Information processing system, information processing apparatus, and information processing method

ABSTRACT

An information processing apparatus provides a sharing service of enabling information to be shared by one or more terminal apparatuses, the information processing apparatus being capable of communicating with the one or more terminal apparatuses, and the one or more terminal apparatuses being associated with a group; receives first identification information from each of the one or more terminal apparatuses; and associates the first identification information with the sharing service. When having associated the first identification information with the sharing service, the information processing apparatus associates, with the group, the one or more terminal apparatuses having received the first identification information from outside and having transmitted the first identification information; and provides the sharing service of enabling information to be shared by the one or more terminal apparatuses that are associated with the group.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application is based on and claims priority under 35 U.S.C.§ 119 to Japanese Patent Application No. 2019-214909, filed Nov. 28,2019, and Japanese Patent Application No. 2020-163833, filed Sep. 29,2020. The contents of Japanese Patent Application No. 2019-214909 andJapanese Patent Application No. 2020-163833 are incorporated herein byreference in their entirety.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to an information processing system, aninformation processing apparatus, and an information processing method.

2. Description of the Related Art

There are various techniques for sharing information, such as images.One known technique is to create a shared stream representing a set ofshared content, invite participants, and stream the set of sharedcontent to participants' apparatuses when the participants subscribe theshared stream. Publication No. 2015-527628 discloses related art.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The disclosed technique includes an information processing systemincluding an information processing apparatus. The informationprocessing apparatus includes circuitry configured to provide a sharingservice of enabling information to be shared by one or more terminalapparatuses, the one or more terminal apparatuses being included in theinformation processing system, the information processing apparatusbeing capable of communicating with the one or more terminalapparatuses, and the one or more terminal apparatuses being associatedwith a group; receive first identification information from each of theone or more terminal apparatuses; and associate the first identificationinformation with the sharing service. Each of the one or more terminalapparatuses includes circuitry configured to obtain the firstidentification information from outside and transmit the firstidentification information to the information processing apparatus. Thecircuitry of the information processing apparatus is further configuredto, when having associated the first identification information with thesharing service, associate, with the group, the one or more terminalapparatuses having received the first identification information fromoutside and having transmitted the first identification information; andprovide the sharing service of enabling information to be shared by theone or more terminal apparatuses that are associated with the group.

Other objects, features and advantages of the present invention willbecome more apparent from the following detailed description when readin conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of a configuration of aninformation processing system according to a first embodiment;

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an outline of an operation of theinformation processing system according to the first embodiment;

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of a hardware configurationof a server apparatus;

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of a hardware configurationof a terminal apparatus;

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a functional configuration of eachapparatus according to the first embodiment;

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of a registered informationstorage unit according to the first embodiment;

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating an example of an applicationinformation storage unit according to the first embodiment;

FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating an example of a user informationstorage unit according to the first embodiment;

FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating an example of a file informationstorage unit according to the first embodiment;

FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of an associatedapplication information storage unit according to the first embodiment;

FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating an example of a sub-application liststorage unit according to the first embodiment;

FIG. 12 is a diagram illustrating an example of a group informationstorage unit according to the first embodiment;

FIG. 13A is a first sequence diagram (a first section) illustrating anoperation of the information processing system according to the firstembodiment;

FIG. 13B is the first sequence diagram (a second section) illustratingan operation of the information processing system according to the firstembodiment;

FIG. 13C is the first sequence diagram (a third section) illustrating anoperation of the information processing system according to the firstembodiment;

FIG. 14A is a first diagram (a first section) illustrating a screentransition of a teacher terminal according to the first embodiment;

FIG. 14B is the first diagram (a second section) illustrating anotherscreen transition at the teacher terminal according to the firstembodiment;

FIG. 14C is the first diagram (a third section) illustrating yet anotherscreen transition at the teacher terminal according to the firstembodiment;

FIG. 15A is a second sequence diagram (a first section) illustrating anoperation of the information processing system according to the firstembodiment;

FIG. 15B is the second sequence diagram (a second section) illustratingan operation of the information processing system according to the firstembodiment;

FIG. 16A is a second diagram (a first section) illustrating a screentransition at the teacher terminal according to the first embodiment;

FIG. 16B is the second diagram (a second section) illustrating anotherscreen transition at the teacher terminal according to the firstembodiment;

FIG. 17A is a third sequence diagram (a first section) illustrating anoperation of the information processing system according to the firstembodiment;

FIG. 17B is the third sequence diagram (a second section) illustratingan operation of the information processing system according to the firstembodiment;

FIG. 18A is a diagram (a first section) illustrating a screen transitionof a student terminal according to the first embodiment;

FIG. 18B is the diagram (a second section) illustrating another screentransition at the student terminal according to the first embodiment;

FIG. 19 is a diagram illustrating an example of a configuration of aninformation processing system according to a second embodiment;

FIG. 20 is a diagram illustrating an outline of an operation of theinformation processing system according to the second embodiment;

FIG. 21A is a diagram illustrating a functional configuration of eachapparatus according to the second embodiment;

FIG. 21B is a diagram illustrating an information storage unit accordingto the second embodiment;

FIG. 21C is a diagram illustrating information stored in a storage unitof a terminal apparatus;

FIG. 22 is a diagram illustrating an example of a registered informationstorage unit according to the second embodiment;

FIG. 23 is a diagram illustrating an example of an applicationinformation storage unit according to the second embodiment;

FIG. 24 is a diagram illustrating an example of a user informationstorage unit according to the second embodiment;

FIG. 25 is a diagram illustrating an example of a sub-applicationinformation storage unit according to the second embodiment;

FIG. 26 is a diagram illustrating an example of a group informationstorage unit according to the second embodiment;

FIG. 27 is a diagram illustrating an example of an apparatus informationstorage unit according to the second embodiment;

FIG. 28 is a diagram illustrating an example of a rewritten registeredinformation storage unit according to the second embodiment;

FIG. 29A is a first sequence diagram (a first section) illustrating anoperation of the information processing system according to the secondembodiment;

FIG. 29B is the first sequence diagram (a second section) illustratingan operation of the information processing system according to thesecond embodiment;

FIG. 30A is a second sequence diagram (a first section) illustrating anoperation of the information processing system according to the secondembodiment;

FIG. 30B is the second sequence diagram (a second section) illustratingan operation of the information processing system according to thesecond embodiment;

FIG. 30C is the second sequence diagram (a third section) illustratingan operation of the information processing system according to thesecond embodiment;

FIG. 31A is a diagram (a first section) illustrating a screen transitionat a terminal apparatus (host) according to the second embodiment;

FIG. 31B is the diagram (a second section) illustrating another screentransition at the terminal apparatus (host) according to the secondembodiment;

FIG. 31C is a diagram (a third section) illustrating a yet other screentransition at the terminal apparatus (host) according to the secondembodiment;

FIG. 32A is a diagram (a first section) illustrating a screen transitionof an output apparatus according to a second embodiment;

FIG. 32B is the diagram (a second section) illustrating another screentransition at the output apparatus according to the second embodiment;

FIG. 33A is a third sequence diagram (a first section) illustrating anoperation of the information processing system according to the secondembodiment;

FIG. 33B is the third sequence diagram (a second section) illustratingan operation of the information processing system according to thesecond embodiment;

FIG. 33C is the third sequence diagram (a third section) illustrating anoperation of the information processing system according to the secondembodiment;

FIG. 33D is the third sequence diagram (a fourth section) illustratingan operation of the information processing system according to thesecond embodiment;

FIG. 34A is a diagram (a first section) illustrating a screen transitionof a terminal apparatus (participant) according to the secondembodiment;

FIG. 34B is the diagram (a second section) illustrating another screentransition at the terminal apparatus (participant) according to thesecond embodiment;

FIG. 35 is a sequence diagram illustrating an operation of aninformation processing system according to a third embodiment;

FIG. 36A is a diagram (a first section) illustrating a screen transitionof a student terminal according to the third embodiment; and

FIG. 36B is the diagram (a second section) illustrating another screentransition at the student terminal according to the third embodiment;

DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

In the related art described above, prior preparation, which may betroublesome, such as creation of a shared stream and invitation ofparticipants, are required to share information.

The embodiments have been devised in view of the above points and areintended to make it easier to share information.

According to the disclosed technique, information can be easily shared.

First Embodiment

A first embodiment will now be described with reference to the drawings.FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of a configuration of aninformation processing system.

In the information processing system 100 according to the presentembodiment, a server apparatus 200 and a user environment E are capableof communicating via a wide-area network n, such as the Internet.However, the network n may be a network that can be accessed within apredetermined area, such as an intranet.

The user environment E is a system environment in an organization suchas a company or an educational institution such as a school, includingone or more terminal apparatuses 300, 400, . . . , N.

The terminal apparatuses 300, 400, . . . , N are information processingterminals carried or used by respective users in the user environment E.For example, a smartphone, a tablet terminal, a PC, or a cellular phonemay be used as each of the terminal apparatuses 300, 400, . . . , N.

The terminal apparatuses 300 and 400 are information processingterminals carried by respective users in the user environment E. Forexample, a smartphone, a tablet terminal, a PC, or a cellular phone maybe used as each of the terminal apparatuses 300 and 400. The terminalapparatuses 300 and 400 can be connected to the network n (for example,via a mobile communication network) without using a LAN or the like inthe user environment E. However, the terminal apparatuses 300 and 400may be capable of being connected to a network within the userenvironment E.

The server apparatus 200 according to the present embodiment provides aservice, selected in the user environment E, to the user environment E.

Specifically, the server apparatus 200 according to the presentembodiment displays a two-dimensional code and a list of services to beprovided by the server apparatus 200 to the user environment E on theterminal apparatus 300 when the two-dimensional code is read by anyterminal apparatus such as the terminal apparatus 300 in the userenvironment E. When a service is selected at the terminal apparatus 300,the server apparatus 200 associates the selected service with thetwo-dimensional code.

When the two-dimensional code is read by the terminal apparatus 400after the two-dimensional code is associated with the service, theserver apparatus 200 provides the terminal apparatus 400 with theservice associated with the two-dimensional code.

A service associated with a two-dimensional code will be described belowwith reference to FIG. 2. FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a serviceassociated with a two-dimensional code.

In the example of FIG. 2, a two-dimensional code 25 is printed on apaper sheet 30 or on a card 40 affixed to a blackboard 35.

In a two-dimensional code 25 according to the present embodiment,identification information (a registered ID) for identifying a serviceto be associated with the two-dimensional code 25, and an initial accessuniform resource locator (URL) to be accessed first by a terminalapparatus that reads the two-dimensional code 25 are embedded.

For example, when the terminal apparatus 300 reads the two-dimensionalcode 25, the terminal apparatus 300 accesses the initial access URL. Theterminal apparatus 300 displays a list of services that can beassociated with the two-dimensional code 25. At this time, thetwo-dimensional code 25 has not been associated with the service. In thefollowing description, an application that associates a two-dimensionalcode 25 with a service may be referred to as a QR application.

When a service to be associated with the two-dimensional code 25 isselected by the user from the list of services, the terminal apparatus300 causes the server apparatus 200 to associate the selected servicewith the two-dimensional code 25. In the example of FIG. 2, a service ofenabling information to be shared by specific users is associated withthe two-dimensional code 25.

Next, each of the terminal apparatus 400, the terminal apparatus 500,and the terminal apparatus 600 reads the two-dimensional code 25. Atthis time, the two-dimensional code 25 has been associated with theservice of enabling information to be shared by specific users. Thus,according to the present embodiment, the service of enabling informationto be shared is provided to the terminal apparatuses 300, 400, 500, and600. In other words, information comes to be able to be shared by theterminal apparatuses 300, 400, 500, and 600.

In the following description, a service of enabling information to beshared may be referred to as a sharing service. A sharing service is aservice that uploads information to a predetermined storage location andenables the information to be shared by multiple terminals via anetwork.

In a sharing service, a specific method of enabling information to beshared may be, for example, a method of delivering a link to reach anuploaded storage location to a plurality of terminals, or a method ofdelivering uploaded information itself to a plurality of terminals via anetwork. Information enabled by a sharing service to be shared iselectronic data, such as an image, a text, a video, a sound, or adocument.

More specifically, when the terminal apparatus 300 reads thetwo-dimensional code 25, resulting in the two-dimensional code 25 beingassociated with the service of enabling information to be shared byspecific users, a storage area (a folder or the like) associated withthe two-dimensional code 25 is prepared at the server apparatus 200.

When each of the terminal apparatuses 300, 400, 500, and 600 reads thetwo-dimensional code 25, each of the terminal apparatuses 300, 400, 500,and 600 is allowed to access the storage area associated with thetwo-dimensional code 25.

At this time, according to the present embodiment, access to the storagearea associated with the two-dimensional code 25 may be permitted onlyfor a terminal apparatus that reads the two-dimensional code 25 within apredetermined time after the two-dimensional code 25 is associated withthe service. In other words, in the present embodiment, informationsharing is permitted only for a terminal apparatus that has read thetwo-dimensional code 25 within a validity period of the two-dimensionalcode 25.

In the present embodiment, a time span in which access to the storagearea associated with the two-dimensional code 25 is permitted may belimited. In other words, in the present embodiment, a period for holdingthe information in the storage area associated with the two-dimensionalcode 25 may be previously determined.

In the present embodiment, when this period has elapsed, the informationstored in the storage area associated with the two-dimensional code 25may be copied and stored in another storage device, etc., and theinformation stored in the storage area associated with thetwo-dimensional code 25 may be deleted.

In the present embodiment, by associating the two-dimensional code 25with a service as described above, information can be shared by aplurality of terminal apparatuses that read the two-dimensional code 25as a result of simply the two-dimensional code 25 being read. In thepresent embodiment, as a result of thus setting the validity period tothe two-dimensional code 25, it is possible to guarantee theconfidentiality of shared information.

A two-dimensional code according to the present embodiment is, forexample, a QR code (registered trademark), but is not limited to a QRcode. In the present embodiment, a service and a two-dimensional codeare to be associated with each other, but such a manner need not beused. In the present embodiment, a one-dimensional code, such as a barcode, may be associated with a service.

In the present embodiment, a method of obtaining information (firstidentification information) included in a code may be other than amethod of reading the code. For example, the information may be obtainedas a result of a beacon signal including the same information as theinformation included in a code being received from a beacon transmitter;or as a result of the information being received from a communicationtag through a near field communication (NFC). In addition, for example,the information may be obtained in such a manner that a sound waveincluding the same information as the information included in a code isreceived from an acoustic wave generator.

Hereinafter, a hardware configuration of each apparatus included in theinformation processing system 100 according to the present embodimentwill be described with reference to FIGS. 3 and 4. FIG. 3 is a diagramillustrating an example of a hardware configuration of the serverapparatus.

The server apparatus 200 of the present embodiment is a computer andincludes a CPU 201, a ROM 202, a RAM 203, a HD 204, a hard disk drive(HDD) controller 205, a display 206, an external apparatus connectinginterface (I/F) 208, a network I/F 209, a data bus B1, a keyboard 211, apointing device 212, a digital versatile disk rewritable (DVD-RW) drive214, and a medium I/F 216, as illustrated in FIG. 3.

The CPU 201 controls operations of the entire server apparatus 200. TheROM 202 stores a program used to drive the CPU 201, such as an IPL. TheRAM 203 is used as a work area of the CPU 201. The HD 204 stores variousdata such as a program. The HDD controller 205 controls reading orwriting of various data with respect to the HD 204 under the control ofthe CPU 201. The display 206 displays various information such as acursor, a menu, a window (screen page), characters, or an image. Theexternal apparatus connecting I/F 208 is an interface for connectingvarious external apparatuses/devices. For example, the externalapparatus/device may be, for example, a universal serial bus (USB)memory or a printer. The network I/F 209 is an interface for performingdata communication using the communication network N. The data bus B1includes an address bus and a data bus for electrically connectingcomponents such as the CPU 201 illustrated in FIG. 3.

The keyboard 211 is a type of input device having a plurality of keysfor inputting characters, numbers, various indications, and the like.The pointing device 212 is a type of input device for selecting andexecuting various instructions, selecting a processing target, moving acursor, and the like. The DVD-RW drive 214 controls reading or writingof various data with respect to a DVD-RW 213 as an example of aremovable recording medium. A disk/disc recording medium may be not onlya DVD-RW but also a DVD-R, etc. The medium I/F 216 controls reading orwriting (storing) of data with respect to a recording medium 215, suchas a flash memory.

The server apparatus 200 according to the present embodiment may be, forexample, a smartphone, a tablet terminal, a personal digital assistant(PDA), a wearable PC, or the like.

Next, a hardware configuration of each of the terminal apparatuses 300,400, . . . , N will be described with reference to FIG. 4. Hereinafter,a hardware configuration of the terminal apparatus 300 will be describedas an example of the terminal apparatuses 300, 400, . . . , and N. FIG.4 is a diagram illustrating an example of a hardware configuration ofthe terminal apparatus.

The terminal apparatus 300 according to the present embodiment includesa CPU 301, a ROM 302, a RAM 303, an EEPROM 304, a complementary metaloxide semiconductor (CMOS) sensor 305, an image pickup device I/F 306,an acceleration and orientation sensor 307, a medium I/F 309, and a GPSreceiver 311.

The CPU 301 is an arithmetic and logic processing device that controlsoperations of the entire terminal apparatus 300. The ROM 302 stores aprogram used for driving the CPU 301, such as an IPL. The RAM 303 isused as a work area of the CPU 301. The EEPROM 304 is used to read outor write various data such as a smartphone program under the control ofthe CPU 301. The ROM 302, RAM 303, and EEPROM 304 are examples ofstorage devices of the terminal apparatus 300.

The CMOS sensor 305 is a type of a built-in image pickup device thatcaptures an image of a subject (mainly a self-image) under the controlof the CPU 301 and obtains image data. Instead of a CMOS sensor, animage pickup device such as a charge coupled device (CCD) sensor may beused.

The image pickup device I/F 306 is a circuit that controls drive of theCMOS sensor 405. The acceleration and orientation sensor 307 is avariety of sensors such as an electromagnetic compass, a gyrocompass,and an acceleration sensor for detecting a geomagnetic field. The mediumI/F 309 controls reading or writing (storing) of data with respect to arecording medium 308, such as a flash memory. The GPS receiver 311receives GPS signals from GPS satellites.

The terminal apparatus 300 includes a long-distance communicationcircuit 312, an antenna 312 a of the long-distance communication circuit312, a CMOS sensor 313, an image pickup device I/F 314, a microphone315, a speaker 316, a sound input and output I/F 317, a display 318, anexternal apparatus connecting I/F 319, a short-distance communicationcircuit 320, an antenna 320 a of the short-distance communicationcircuit 320, and a touch panel 321.

The long-distance communication circuit 312 is a circuit thatcommunicates with other apparatuses via a communication network. TheCMOS sensor 313 is a type of a built-in imaging device that captures animage of a subject under the control of the CPU 301 and obtains imagedata. The image pickup device I/F 314 is a circuit that controls driveof the CMOS sensor 313. The microphone 315 is a built-in circuit thatconverts sound to an electrical signal. The speaker 316 is a built-incircuit that converts an electrical signal to a physical vibration toproduce sound, such as a music or a voice. The sound input and outputI/F 317 is a circuit that processes input and output sound signals withrespect to the microphone 315 and the speaker 316 under the control ofthe CPU 301.

The display 318 is a type of a display device such as a liquid crystaldevice or an organic electro luminescence (EL) device for displaying animage of a subject or various icons. The external apparatus connectingI/F 319 is an interface for connecting various externalapparatuses/devices. The short-distance communication circuit 320 is acommunication circuit such as a near field communication (NFC) circuitor a Bluetooth (registered trademark) circuit. The touch panel 321 is atype of an input device for the user to operate the terminal apparatus300 by touching the display 318. The display 318 is an example of adisplay device of the terminal apparatus 300.

Next, functions of each apparatus included in the information processingsystem 100 according to the present embodiment will be described withreference to FIG. 5. FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example of afunctional configuration of each apparatus according to the firstembodiment. In the following description, as an example, the informationprocessing system 100 is implemented in an educational site such as aschool, the terminal apparatus 300 is mainly used by a teacher, and theterminal apparatus 400 is mainly used by a student. In the followingdescription, the terminal apparatus 300 is referred to as a teacherterminal 300 and the terminal apparatus 400 is referred to as a studentterminal 400.

The teacher terminal 300 according to the present embodiment includes acontrol unit 330, a browser unit 340, a storage unit 350, an obtainingunit 370, and a communication unit 380. Each of these units isimplemented by a process in which one or more programs installed in theteacher terminal 300 are executed by the CPU 301. The control unit 330may be implemented by, for example, an operating system or may beimplemented by software such as an application. The control unit 330starts the browser unit 340 in response to an operation of a user of theteacher terminal 300.

For example, the browser unit 340 is a typical web browser and performsprocessing according to hypertext markup language (HTML) data, scripts(for example, JavaScript (registered trademark)), or the like. Thebrowser unit 340 starts from reading a two-dimensional code. When atwo-dimensional code is read, the browser unit 340 according to thepresent embodiment accesses the server apparatus 200 based on theinitial access URL included in the two-dimensional code and executes anapplication corresponding to a registered ID included in thetwo-dimensional code.

The registered ID is identification information that identifies aservice and is previously associated with an application that implementsthe service. A registered ID of the present embodiment is an example offirst identification information. The initial access URL denotes a URLto be first accessed when the teacher terminal 300 first accesses theserver apparatus 200.

Specifically, the browser unit 340 accesses an application of the serverapparatus 200 associated with the registered ID in accordance with aredirect request from the server apparatus 200 performed in response toan access to the initial access URL. The redirect request is a responsefrom the server apparatus 200 in response to an access to the initialaccess URL.

The browser unit 340 obtains data (HTML data, scripts, etc.), indicatinga request for execution of a process to the teacher terminal 300, fromthe application that has been thus accessed. The obtaining unit 370obtains information including the registered ID and the initial accessURL from the outside. Specifically, for example, the obtaining unit 370reads the two-dimensional code through the CMOS sensor 313 and the imagepickup device I/F 314 to obtain an image including the two-dimensionalcode in which the registered ID and the initial access URL are embedded.

The obtaining unit 370 may obtain the image including thetwo-dimensional code in a method other than reading the two-dimensionalcode. For example, the obtaining unit 370 may receive informationincluding the registered ID and the initial access URL from the outsidethrough communication circuitry such as the long-distance communicationcircuit 312 or the short-distance communication circuit 320.

The communication unit 380 transmits information, to be sent from thebrowser unit 340 to the server apparatus 200, to the server apparatus200 and receives information, to be sent from the server apparatus 200to the browser unit 340, from the server apparatus 200. The informationtransmitted by the communication unit 380 includes the registered ID(the first identification information) obtained by the obtaining unit370.

The information transmitted by the communication unit 380 is received bythe communication unit 210 of the server apparatus 200. Thus, thecommunication unit 380 is an example of a first communication unit thattransmits first identification information to the server apparatus 200,and the communication unit 210 is an example of a second communicationunit that receives the first identification information from theterminal apparatus 300.

The student terminal 400 according to the present embodiment includes acontrol unit (operating system unit) 430, a browser unit 440, a storageunit 450, an obtaining unit 470, and a communication unit 480. Each ofthese units is implemented by a process in which one or more programsinstalled in the student terminal 400 are executed by the CPU of thestudent terminal 400. Because the functions of each unit of the studentterminal 400 are the same as the functions of the teacher terminal 300,the description thereof will not be repeated.

The server apparatus 200 according to the present embodiment includes acommunication unit 210, an application determining unit 220, anauthenticating unit 230, an application group 240, and an informationstorage unit 280. Each of these units is implemented by a process inwhich one or more programs installed in the server apparatus 200 isexecuted by the CPU 201.

The storage unit 280 of the present embodiment includes a registeredinformation storage unit 261, an application information storage unit262, a user information storage unit 263, a file information storageunit 264, an associated application information storage unit 265, asub-application list storage unit 266, and a group information storageunit 267. Each of these storage units may be implemented using, forexample, the HD 204, or a storage device or the like capable ofconnecting to the server apparatus 200 via a network. Details of eachstorage unit will be described later.

The communication unit 210 transmits requested information from amongthe information stored in the file information storage unit 264 to adestination. In the present embodiment, the destination is the terminalapparatus 300, 400, or the like. The information stored in the fileinformation storage unit 264 includes document data and image data. Inthe following description, the information stored in the fileinformation storage unit 264 is referred to as document image data.

The application determining unit 220 corresponds to the initial accessURL. The application determining unit 220 determines an applicationcorresponding to the registered ID (option information) attached to theinitial access URL in response to an access to the initial access URL byreading the registered information storage unit 261.

When the application determining unit 220 determines the applicationcorresponding to the registered ID, the application determining unit 220transmits a response including a redirect request including a URL forthe application to the source that has accessed the initial access URL.

According to the present embodiment, the URL for the applicationincluded in the application group 240 is determined as the applicationcorresponding to the registered ID in response to the access from theteacher terminal 300.

The authenticating unit 230 compares account information input from theteacher terminal 300 or the student terminal 400 with the userinformation stored in the user information storage unit 263 toauthenticate the user (the account information) based on the comparisonresult.

The application group 240 is an example of applications that the serverapparatus 200 has.

The application group 240 includes an input application and an outputapplication. An input application is, for example, an application forexecuting a process for a purpose. Each application transmits HTML dataand scripts, etc. for executing a process for a purpose to the teacherterminal 300 or the student terminal 400. An output application is anapplication for obtaining (downloading) document image data stored inthe file information storage unit 264 and implementing a correspondingrendering process.

The application group 240 according to the present embodiment includesvarious applications that implement services to be provided by theserver apparatus 200, for example. The application group 240 accordingto the present embodiment includes, for example, a QR application 240-1and a group application 240-2.

The QR application 240-1 is an application (an input application)causing the teacher terminal 300 to execute a process of associating aservice with a two-dimensional code read by the teacher terminal 300. Inother words, the QR application 240-1 is an example of an associatingunit that associates identification information (a registered ID) readfrom a two-dimensional code with a service of enabling information to beshared by a plurality of terminal apparatuses.

The group application 240-2 is an application for executing a process ofdetermining terminal apparatuses (the teacher terminal 300 and thestudent terminal 400) that share information to be included in onegroup. The group application 240-2 is an application for causing each ofterminal apparatuses determined to be included in one group to obtaindocument image data and implement a rendering process with respect tothe document image data. In other words, the group application 240-2 isan application that implements both an input application and an outputapplication. In other words, the group application 240-2 is an exampleof a sharing unit that enables information to be shared by terminalapparatuses that read a two-dimensional code including identificationinformation.

Next, each storage unit of the server apparatus 200 will be describedwith reference to FIGS. 6-12.

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of the registeredinformation storage unit according to the first embodiment. Theregistered information stored in the registered information storage unit261 according to the present embodiment is information that is providedbefore an operation of the information processing system 100 describedlater is performed.

The registered information storage unit 261 has a registered ID and anapplication ID as items of information, and both types of IDs areassociated with each other.

The value of the item “registered ID” indicates identificationinformation for identifying a service provided by the informationprocessing system 100. The value of the item “registered ID” accordingto the present embodiment is embedded in a two-dimensional code. Thevalue of the item “application ID” indicates identification informationfor identifying an application. An application ID of the presentembodiment is an example of second identification information.

In the present embodiment, in the registered information storage unit261, information including the value of the item “registered ID” and thevalue of the item “application ID” are referred to as registeredinformation. Registered information associates a service with anapplication.

In the example of FIG. 6, the registered ID “Tag_QR01” is associatedwith the application ID “AP_QR”.

The registered ID “Tag_QR01” according to the present embodiment isidentification information for identifying a service of associating atwo-dimensional code with a service, and the application ID “AP_QR” isidentification information for identifying a QR application thatimplements a process of associating a two-dimensional code with aservice.

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating an example of an applicationinformation storage unit according to the first embodiment. Theapplication information stored in the application information storageunit 262 according to the present embodiment is information providedbefore the operation of the information processing system 100 describedlater is performed.

The application information storage unit 262 includes an application ID,an application type, a URL, and a corresponding browser as items ofinformation, and the item “application ID” is associated with the otheritems.

The value of the item “application type” indicates a type based on arelationship with document image data for the application identified bythe application ID. When the value of the item “application type” is“In”, the value indicates that the corresponding application is anapplication that controls input of document image data. In other words,when the value of the item “application type” is “In”, the valueindicates that the corresponding application is an input applicationincluded in the application group 240.

When the value of the item “application type” is “Out”, the valueindicates that the corresponding application is an application thatcontrols output of document image data.

The value of the item “URL” is an URL of the application identified bythe application ID.

The value of the item “corresponding browser” indicates a type of abrowser that operates the application identified by the application ID.In the example of FIG. 7, a type of a browser indicates a browser for aterminal apparatus, i.e., a browser unit included in the teacherterminal 300 or the student terminal 400.

In the following description, information including the value of eachitem in the application information storage unit 262 is referred to asapplication information. Application information according to thepresent embodiment is previously provided information.

FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating an example of the user informationstorage unit according to the first embodiment. The user informationstored in the user information storage unit 263 is information that isprovided before the operation of the information processing system 10,which will be described later, is performed.

The user information storage unit 263 includes a tenant ID, a user ID, atype, a name, and a usable application as items of information, and theitem “user ID” is associated with the other items.

The value of the item “tenant ID” is identification information of acontractor (tenant) of a service usage contract for services provided bythe server apparatus 200. For example, the user environment E maycorrespond to one tenant.

The value of the item “user ID” is identification information foridentifying a user of a terminal apparatus. Specifically, the value ofthe item “user ID” is identification information for identifying theteacher who is the user of the teacher terminal 300 and identificationinformation for identifying the student who is the user of the studentterminal 400. In the present embodiment, a user ID is given to each ofindividuals including teachers and students.

The value of the item “type” indicates a type of a user ID.Specifically, when the value of the item “type” is “guest”, the valueindicates that the user ID of the corresponding user is not stored inthe user information storage unit 263. When the value of the item “type”is “usual”, the value indicates that the user ID of the correspondinguser is stored in the user information storage unit 263.

The value of the item “name” indicates the name of the user. The valueof the item “usable application” is identification information of anapplication which the corresponding user is permitted to use.

In the following description, information including the values of eachitem of the user information storage unit 263 is referred to as userinformation.

In the example of FIG. 8, it can be seen that the user identified asguret1 of the tenant ID “T001” is permitted to use the applicationidentified by the identification information “AP_Group”.

FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating an example of a file informationstorage unit according to the first embodiment. The file informationstored in the file information storage unit 264 according to the presentembodiment is information generated when sharing of information starts,and is information generated in the operation of the informationprocessing system 100 which will be described later.

The file information storage unit 264 has a tenant ID, a file name, agroup ID, a user ID, an authority, and a file location as items ofinformation.

The value of the item “file name” indicates a file name of documentimage data to be shared. The value of the item “Group ID” indicatesidentification information for identifying a group that shares thedocument image data indicated by the corresponding file name.

The value of the item “user ID” is information for identifying the ownerof the document image data indicated by the file name. In the presentembodiment, the owner of the document image data means the group creatorwho created the group that shares the document image data.

The value of the item “authority” indicates whether the document imagedata indicated by the file name is permitted to be modified. The valueof the item “file location” indicates the location of the storage areawhere the document image data indicated by the file name is stored.

In the following description, information including the values of eachitem in the file information storage unit 264 is referred to as fileinformation.

FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of the associatedapplication information storage unit according to the first embodiment.The associated application information stored in the associatedapplication information storage unit 265 according to the presentembodiment is information generated when a service is associated with atwo-dimensional code, and is information generated in the operation ofthe information processing system 100 as will be described later.

The associated application information storage unit 265 includes aregistered ID, a sub-application ID, a category, a user ID, a usagestart time, and a usage end time as items of information.

The value of the item “sub-application ID” is identification informationfor identifying the application that is subordinately associated withthe application ID associated with the registered ID. In the followingdescription, an application identified by a sub-application ID may bereferred to as a sub-application.

A sub-application according to the present embodiment is an example of afunctional unit that provides a service. In the present embodiment, theQR application 240-1 is associated with a plurality of sub-applications.That is, in the associated application information storage unit 265, theQR application 240-1 is associated with functional units that providedifferent services, respectively.

The value of the item “category” is information managed for eachsub-application. The value of the item “usage start time” indicates thestart time of the service identified by the registered ID. The value ofthe item “usage end time” indicates the usage end time of the serviceidentified by the registered ID.

More specifically, the value of the item “usage start time” indicatesthe time when associating of a two-dimensional code with the serviceidentified by the registered ID starts, and the value of the item “usageend time” indicates the time when associating of a two-dimensional codewith the service identified by the registered ID ends.

According to the present embodiment, for example, the time span duringwhich the service specified by the registered ID can be used isdetermined, and when usage of the service starts, the usage end time maybe determined automatically.

In the following description, in the associated application informationstorage unit 265, information including the values of each item isreferred to as associated application information.

In the example of FIG. 10, the service identified by the registered ID“Tag_QR01” is associated with a sub-application identified by“AP_Group”. The information managed by the sub-application “AP_Group” isidentified by “Group_Une”.

FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating an example of the sub-application liststorage unit according to the first embodiment. The sub-application liststorage unit 266 according to the present embodiment stores informationindicating a relationship between a QR application identified by anapplication ID “AP_QR” and a sub-application.

The sub-application list storage unit 266 includes a sub-application ID,an application name, and an “AP_QR” as items of information.

In the example illustrated in FIG. 11, the name of a sub-applicationidentified by “AP_Group” is a “group” and is subordinate to anapplication identified by an application ID “AP_QR”. In other words, theapplication identified by the application ID “AP_QR” and thesub-application identified by the sub-application ID “AP_Group” areassociated with each other.

In the following description, information including the values of eachitem in the sub-application list storage unit 266 is referred to assub-application list information.

FIG. 12 is a diagram illustrating an example of the group informationstorage unit according to the first embodiment. The group informationstored in the group information storage unit 267 is informationgenerated when a group is created, and is information generated in theoperation of the information processing system 100 to be describedlater.

The group information storage unit 267 includes a group ID, a groupname, a countersign, a storage location, a user ID, and a participant asitems of information.

The value of the item “group name” indicates the name of the groupidentified by the group ID. The value of the item “countersign”indicates a countersign for each group. The value of the item “storagelocation” indicates the storage location of the information shared bythe group. The value of the item “participant” indicates the usersparticipating in the group. The users participating in the group are, inother words, the users who share the information.

Next, an operation of the information processing system 100 according tothe present embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 13A,13B, and 13C. FIG. 13A is a first sequence diagram (a first section)illustrating an operation of the information processing system accordingto the first embodiment. FIG. 13B is the first sequence diagram (asecond section) illustrating an operation of the information processingsystem according to the first embodiment. FIG. 13C is the first sequencediagram (a third section) illustrating an operation of the informationprocessing system according to the first embodiment.

With reference to FIGS. 13A, 13B, and 13C, a procedure for associating atwo-dimensional code 25 with a service by the teacher terminal 300 isdescribed. In the following description, a two-dimensional code 25 is aQR code.

In FIG. 13A, in step S1301, the teacher terminal 300 of the informationprocessing system 100 according to the present embodiment receives aninstruction to read a QR code from the user (the teacher) and capturesan image of the QR code by the control unit 330 with the image pickupdevice (step S1302). When the teacher terminal 300 detects that theteacher terminal 300 has been brought close to the QR code, the teacherterminal 300 may automatically activate the image pickup device andcapture an image of the QR code.

Subsequently, the teacher terminal 300 notifies the user that the QRcode has been read by the control unit 330. In step S1303, theregistered ID “Tag_QR01” and the initial access URL are obtained fromthe QR code.

Subsequently, in step S1304, the terminal apparatus 300 activates thebrowser unit 340. In step S1305, the browser unit 340 attaches an accesstoken to an HTTP request, and automatically transmits the HTTP requestto the application determining unit 220 of the server apparatus 200corresponding to the initial access URL in response to thus beingactivated. The HTTP request to which the access token is attached istransmitted by the communication unit 380 to the application determiningunit 220 of the server apparatus 200.

The access token according to the present embodiment includes theregistered ID “Tag_QR01” obtained from the QR code and the user ID ofthe teacher terminal 300.

In the server apparatus 200, the application determining unit 220 sendsa redirect request directed to a login screen page to the teacherterminal 300 for authenticating the user, when the validity period ofthe access token has elapsed (step S1306).

In step S1307, the browser unit 340 of the teacher terminal 300 receivesthe redirect request, then requests the URL of the login screen pagefrom the authenticating unit 230 of the server apparatus 200, andobtains the login screen page. At this time, the browser unit 340transmits the registered ID to the control unit 330 as a request toobtain the URL of the login screen page.

Subsequently, in step S1308, the browser unit 340 displays a selectingscreen page for selecting one of a method of logging in and using theinformation processing system 100 and a method of using the informationprocessing system 100 as a guest. In FIG. 13A, for example, the methodof logging in and using the information processing system 100 isselected to associate a QR code with a service.

Then, in FIG. 13B, in step S1310, the browser unit 340 of the teacherterminal 300 displays a login screen page in response to the method oflogging in and using the information processing system 100 beingselected from the selecting screen page (step S1309).

In step S1312, the browser unit 340 of the teacher terminal 300 receivesan input of account information from the login screen page (step S1311)and transmits a login request including the account information to theauthenticating unit 230 of the server apparatus 200.

The account information according to the present embodiment is a userID, a password, or the like. The login request includes the accountinformation and the registered ID obtained from the QR code.

The authenticating unit 230 of the server apparatus 200 reads the userinformation storage unit 263 and determines whether the same user ID asthe user ID included in the account information exists in the userinformation storage unit 263 and whether an application associated withthe registered ID is included in the usable applications correspondingto the user ID.

Specifically, for example, the user ID input to the teacher terminal 300is “tanaka@ . . . ”.

In this case, it is determined that there is a user ID associated with“tanaka@ . . . ” in the user information storage unit 263 (see FIG. 8).The application associated with the registered ID “Tag_QR01” in theregistered information storage unit 261 is a QR application identifiedby the application ID “AP_QR” (see FIG. 6).

Therefore, the authenticating unit 230 determines whether theapplication ID “AP_QR” is included in the usable applicationscorresponding to “tanaka@ . . . ”. In the present embodiment, theapplication ID “AP_QR” is included in the usable applicationscorresponding to the user ID “tanaka@ . . . ” in the user informationstorage unit 263. Therefore, the authenticating unit 230 permits theuser to use the QR application identified by the application ID “AP_QR”.

Specifically, the authenticating unit 230 generates an access token foraccessing the user information of the user ID “tanaka@ . . . ” andreturns the access token to the browser unit 340. The access tokenincludes the registered ID which is the argument of the login request.The browser unit 340 stores the obtained access token.

Subsequently, in step S1313, the browser unit 340 transmits a connectionrequest, to which the obtained access token is attached, to theapplication determining unit 220 of the server apparatus 200.

In step S1314, the application determining unit 220 transmits a redirectrequest, directed to the URL of the QR application identified by theapplication ID “AP_QR” associated with the registered ID “Tag_QR01”included in the access token, to the browser unit 340.

In step S1315, the browser unit 340 receives the redirect request andtransmits a connection request, directed to the QR application 240-1, tothe server apparatus 200; and receives from the server apparatus 200 theURL of the QR application 240-1 and the associated applicationinformation including the registered ID “Tag_QR01” included in theassociated application information storage unit 265.

In step S1316, the browser unit 340 reads the received associatedapplication information and displays a screen page indicated by the URLof the QR application 240-1. The screen page that is thus displayed willnow be described.

The browser unit 340 according to the present embodiment determines,when the sub-application ID associated with the registered ID is notpresent in the associated application information including theregistered ID “Tag_QR01”, that the QR code is not associated with aservice (see FIG. 10). In this case, the browser unit 340 displays ascreen page including a message indicating that the QR code is notassociated with a service and a button for the user to input aninstruction to associate the QR code with a service.

When the sub-application ID associated with the registered ID exists inthe associated application information including the registered ID“Tag_QR01”, the browser unit 340 determines that the QR code is alreadyassociated with a service. In this case, the browser unit 340 displays ascreen page including a message indicating that the QR code is alreadyassociated with a service and a button for selecting whether or not touse the associated service.

The following description of FIG. 13C illustrates the case where the QRcode is not associated with a service.

In step S1318, the browser unit 340 displays a screen page for setting aperiod for providing the QR code upon receiving an instruction toassociate the QR code with a service (step S1317).

Subsequently, in step S1320, when the browser unit 340 receives an inputof the period (step S1319), the browser unit 340 transmits the setperiod and the access token to the QR application 240-1.

In step S1321, the QR application 240-1 associates the registered ID“Tag_QR01” included in the access token and the user ID “tanaka@ . . . ”with the usage start time and the usage end time, in the associatedapplication information storage unit 265.

Subsequently, in step S1322, the QR application 240-1 reads the userinformation storage unit 263 and the sub-application list storage unit266, and transmits a list of sub-applications subordinate to the QRapplication 240-1 to the browser unit 340.

Specifically, the QR application 240-1 transmits, to the browser unit340, a list of sub-applications included in the usable applications ofthe user ID “tanaka@ . . . ” in the user information storage unit 263and subordinate to the application ID “AP_QR” in the sub-applicationlist storage unit 266.

That is, in this case, the application name “group” of the applicationID “AP_Group”, the application name “sending” of the application ID“AP_Send”, the application name “questionnaire survey” of theapplication ID “AP_Survey”, the application name “roster generation” ofthe application ID “AP_Roster”, and the application name “questionreceiving” of the application ID “AP_Question” are transmitted to thebrowser unit 340 (see FIGS. 8 and 11).

In step S1323, the browser unit 340 displays a service selecting screenpage in response to receiving the list.

Subsequently, in step S1325, when the browser unit 340 receives theuser's selection of a service (step S1324), the browser unit 340transmits a request for associating of the selected service and theaccess token to the QR application 240-1. It is assumed that theapplication name “group” is thus selected.

In response to this request, the QR application 240-1 stores theapplication ID “AP_Group” as the value of the item “sub-application ID”of the associated application information including the registered ID“Tag_QR01” and the user ID “tanaka@ . . . ” in the associatedapplication information storage unit 265. In step S1326, the QRapplication 240-1 reads the application information storage unit 262 andtransmits a redirect request including the URL of the application ID“AP_Group” to the browser unit 340 (see FIG. 7).

According to the present embodiment, in the associated applicationinformation storage unit 265, a registered ID is associated with asub-application ID, so that a QR code in which the registered ID isembedded is associated with a service implemented by the applicationidentified by the sub-application ID.

According to the present embodiment, the QR application 240-1 associatesthe group application 240-2 identified by the application ID “AP_Group”with the QR code. In other words, the QR application 240-1 is anapplication that implements a service in which a plurality of terminalapparatuses that share information constitute one group.

As described above, the QR application 240-1 according to the presentembodiment functions as an associating unit that associatesidentification information (a registered ID) read from a two-dimensionalcode with a service of enabling information to be shared by a pluralityof terminal apparatuses.

In step S1327, the browser unit 340 receives the redirect request andthen transmits the access token and a connection request to the groupapplication 240-2 identified by the application ID “AP_Group”.

In step S1328, the group application 240-2 receives the connectionrequest and then transmits the group information, associated with theaccess token in the group information storage unit 267, to the browserunit 340.

Specifically, in the present embodiment, in the group informationstorage unit 267, a list of the group names associated with the user IDincluded in the access token is returned to the browser unit 340 (seeFIG. 12).

In the present embodiment, the group name associated with the user ID“tanaka@ . . . ” included in the access token is “archaeologicaldigging”. Accordingly, the group application 240-2 returns“archaeological digging” to the browser unit 340.

A group whose group name is stored in the group information storage unit267 is a group created by a user identified by a corresponding user ID.Accordingly, the group having the group name “archaeological digging” isa group created in the past by the teacher having the user ID “tanaka@ .. . ”.

In step S1329, the browser unit 340 receives the list of group names andthen displays the list.

Thus, the QR code is associated with the service. Screen pagetransitions at the teacher terminal 300 in the procedure illustrated inFIGS. 13A, 13B, and 13C will now be described with reference to FIGS.14A, 14B, and 14C. FIG. 14A is a first diagram (a first section)illustrating a screen page transition at the teacher terminal accordingto the first embodiment. FIG. 14B is the first diagram (a secondsection) illustrating a screen page transition at the teacher terminalaccording to the first embodiment. FIG. 14C is the first diagram (athird section) illustrating a screen page transition at the teacherterminal according to the first embodiment.

A screen page 141 and a screen page 142 at FIG. 14A, a screen page 143and a screen page 144 at FIG. 14B, and a screen page 145, a screen page146, and a screen page 147 at FIG. 14C are displayed on the display 318of the teacher terminal 300 according to the present embodiment.

The screen page 141 is an example of a selecting screen page displayedin step S1308 of FIG. 13A, and a button 141 a for selecting a method oflogging in and using the information processing system 100, and a button141 b for selecting a method of using the information processing system100 as a guest are displayed. Further, although the read QR code isdisplayed in the screen page 141, the QR code may be omitted from beingdisplayed.

The screen page 141 is changed to the screen page 142 when the button141 a is operated. The screen page 142 is an example of a login screenpage displayed in step S1310 of FIG. 13B, and an input field for accountinformation (user ID and password) is displayed. When accountinformation is input and an operation to request a login is performed,the screen page 142 is changed to the screen page 143 or the screen page144 illustrated in FIG. 14B.

The screen page 143 is an example of a screen page displayed when a QRcode is not associated with a service in step S1316 of FIG. 13B. Themessage 143 a indicating that the QR code is not associated with aservice and a button 143 b for the user to input an instruction toassociate the QR code with a service are displayed in the screen page143.

The screen page 144 is an example of a screen page displayed when the QRcode is associated with a service in step S1316 of FIG. 13B. A message143 a indicating that the QR code is associated with a service and abutton 144 b for selecting whether or not to use the associated serviceare displayed in the screen page 144.

When the button 143 b is operated, the screen page 143 is changed to thescreen page 145 illustrated in FIG. 14C. The screen page 145 is anexample of a screen page displayed in step S1318 of FIG. 13C. The screenpage 145 includes choices for a period for which the QR code is to beprovided.

In the example of FIG. 14C, “1 hour” has been selected as the QR codeproviding period. Accordingly, in this case, only the terminal apparatusthat has read the QR code within one hour can use the service associatedwith this QR code.

When the providing period is thus set, the screen page 145 is changed tothe screen page 146. The screen page 146 is an example of a screen pagedisplayed in step S1323 of FIG. 13C. A providing period means a validityperiod during which a QR code is a valid two-dimensional code for beingassociated with a service.

In the screen page 146, a list 146 a of names of sub-applications thatcan be associated with the QR code and that are permitted to be used bythe logged-in user is displayed.

When a sub-application is selected from the list 146 a, the screen page146 is changed to the screen page 147. In the example of FIG. 14C, thesub-application “group” is selected and the screen page 146 is changedto the screen page 147.

The screen page 147 displays a list of names of groups created by thelogged-in user. Further, a button 147 a for initiating a procedure tocreate a new group is displayed in the screen page 147.

When the button 147 a is operated at the screen page 147, the teacherterminal 300 comes to display a screen page for creating a new group.

Next, a procedure for creating a group will be described with referenceto FIGS. 15A and 15B. FIG. 15A is a second sequence diagram (a firstsection) illustrating an operation of the information processing systemaccording to the first embodiment. FIG. 15B is the second sequencediagram (a second section) illustrating an operation of the informationprocessing system according to the first embodiment.

In FIG. 15A, in step S1502, the teacher terminal 300 in the informationprocessing system 100 displays a screen page for creating a new groupwhen the button 147 a is operated at the screen page 147 in step S1501.

Subsequently, when information concerning a new group is input (stepS1503), the browser unit 340 transmits this information and the accesstoken to the group application 240-2 in step S1504.

The information concerning the new group is a group name, a countersign,and so forth, and is a part of a set of group information to be storedin the group information storage unit 267.

In step S1505, the group application 240-2 attaches a group ID to theinformation concerning the new group to form the set of groupinformation, and stores the set of group information in the groupinformation storage unit 267, and transmits the set of group informationto the browser unit 340.

More specifically, the group application 240-2 generates a group ID thatis unique with respect to the other groups, and associates the groupname, the countersign, and the user ID included in the access tokentogether to form the set of group information.

According to the present embodiment, a creation of a group may bepermitted only to a user for whom account information is stored in theuser information storage unit 263. In this case, whether to permit theuser to create a group may be determined from determining whether thegroup information storage unit 267 includes the user ID included in theaccess token transmitted from the browser unit 340 in step S1503.

In step S1506, when the set of group information is received, thebrowser unit 340 adds the newly created group name to the list of groupnames and displays the list of group names.

Next, in step S1507, in response to receiving the user's selection of agroup, the browser unit 340 transmits the access token and a request forobtaining a list of document image data stored in the storage locationcorresponding to the selected group name to the communication unit 210of the server apparatus 200.

In step S1508, the communication unit 210 transmits a list of file IDsof document image data for accessing the storage location correspondingto the selected group name to the browser unit 340.

Subsequently, in FIG. 15B, the browser unit 340 displays a screen pageexplaining a procedure to add document image data when document imagedata is not stored in the storage location (step S1509). A case wheredocument image data is not stored is a case where the group is creatednewly.

In step S1510, the browser unit 340 displays a thumbnail list screenpage of the stored document image data when the document image data isstored in the storage location.

In step S1511, the browser unit 340 receives an operation to instruct anaddition of document image data. For example, it is now be assumed thatan instruction to add a photograph is input.

In response to the instruction, in step S1512, the browser unit 340invokes a photograph selecting application 360 installed in the teacherterminal 300. The photograph selecting application 360 displays a listof photographs (step S1513).

Subsequently, in step S1514, in response to receiving the user'sselection of a photograph, the photograph selecting application 360 isswitched to the browser unit 340 that has invoked the photographselecting application 360, and notifies the browser unit 340 of documentimage data that is the selected photograph (step S1515).

In step S1516, the browser unit 340 transmits a upload request withrespect to the document image data of the selected photograph to thecommunication unit 210 of the server apparatus 200 together with theaccess token and the group ID.

In the server apparatus 200, in step S1517, the communication unit 210stores the document image data in the storage location corresponding tothe group ID and transmits a corresponding file ID to the browser unit340. This allows the newly added photograph that is the document imagedata to be shared by the users included in the group. In other words,according to the present embodiment, the document image data is storedat the storage location associated with the group application 240-2, sothat the document image data is shared by the users within the group.

That is, the group application 240-2 according to the present embodimentfunctions as a sharing unit causing a terminal apparatus which reads thetwo-dimensional code including the registered ID “Tag_QR01” to shareinformation with another terminal apparatus that reads the registered ID“Tag_QR01”.

In other words, when a registered ID is associated with the groupapplication 240-2 by the QR application 240-1, the group application240-2 associates one or more terminal apparatuses 300 each of whichtransmits the registered ID to the server apparatus 200 with the samegroup. The group application 240-2 provides a sharing service thatenables information to be shared by one or more terminal apparatusesassociated with the same group.

In step S1518, the browser unit 340 obtains a thumbnail image of theadded document image data based on the received file ID and displays thethumbnail image.

Thus, the new group is created. Hereinafter, screen page transitions atthe teacher terminal 300 in the procedure illustrated in FIGS. 15A and15B will be described with reference to FIGS. 16A and 16B. FIG. 16A is asecond diagram (a first section) illustrating a screen page transitionat the teacher terminal according to the first embodiment. FIG. 16B isthe second diagram (a second section) illustrating a screen pagetransition at the teacher terminal according to the first embodiment.

The display 318 of the teacher terminal 300 displays a screen page 161,a screen page 162, and a screen page 163 illustrated in FIG. 16A, and ascreen page 164 and a screen page 165 illustrated in FIG. 16B.

The screen page 161 is an example of a screen page displayed in stepS1502 of FIG. 15A, and an input field 161 a for information concerning anew group is displayed. In the present embodiment, a countersign isinput. However, a countersign need not be included in group information.Instead of a countersign, a common password or the like may be used.

When a group name and a countersign are input to the input field, thescreen page 161 is changed to the screen page 162. The screen page 162is an example of a screen page displayed in step S1506 of FIG. 15.

The list of group names 162 a is displayed in the screen page 162. Inthe screen page 162, “archaeological digging” is added as a newly addedgroup name. In the screen page 162, a previously created group name anda newly input group name are displayed in different manners.Specifically, for example, a newly input group name is displayed in adifferent color from the other group names, or a mark is provided in thevicinity of a newly input group name.

In the example illustrated in FIG. 16A, the group name “archaeologicaldigging” is provided with a mark in the vicinity, indicating that thegroup name has been newly added.

In the screen page 162, when the group name “archaeological digging” isselected from the list 162 a, the screen page is changed to the screenpage 163. The screen page 163 is an example of a screen page displayedin step S1508 of FIG. 15A.

In the screen page 163, a message 163 a indicating how to add aphotograph, a button 163 b for the user to input an instruction to add aphotograph, and a button 163 c for canceling the association between theQR code and the group application 240-2 are displayed. When the button163 b is operated, the screen page 163 is changed to the screen page 164illustrated in FIG. 16B. When the button 163 c is operated at the screenpage 163, the relationship between the group application 240-2 and theQR code is canceled.

Thus, the user of the teacher terminal 300 may operate the button 163 c,for example, when the number of participants in the group reaches afixed number or when the user does not want to increase the number ofparticipants of the group. Thus, according to the present embodiment,provision of a service with respect to a QR code can be stopped beforethe set providing period for the QR code has elapsed.

The screen page 164 illustrated in FIG. 16B is an example of a screenpage displayed in step S1512 of FIG. 15B.

The screen page 164 displays a list of photographs stored in the teacherterminal 300. When a photograph is selected from the list, the screenpage 164 is changed to the screen page 165.

The screen page 165 is an example of a screen page displayed in stepS1516 of FIG. 15B. In the screen page 165, a thumbnail image of thenewly added photograph is displayed. In addition, in the screen page165, the name of the user who has added the document image datacorresponding to the thumbnail image and a mark indicating that thedocument image data corresponding to the thumbnail image has been newlyadded are provided to the vicinity of the thumbnail image.

Thus, the teacher terminal 300 according to the present embodiment cancreate a new group or add document image data.

Referring now to FIGS. 17A and 17B, a procedure in which the studentterminal 400 participates in a group will be described. FIG. 17A is athird sequence diagram (a first section) illustrating an operation ofthe information processing system according to the first embodiment.FIG. 17B is the third sequence diagram (a second section) illustratingan operation of the information processing system according to the firstembodiment.

Step S1709 of FIG. 17A is a process that follows step S1308 of FIG. 13A.That is, in the procedure in which the student terminal 400 participatesin a group, steps S1301-S1308 of FIG. 13A are executed, and then theprocess proceeds to step S1709.

In FIG. 17A, in the selecting screen page displayed in step S1308, amethod of using the information processing system 100 as a guest isselected.

The browser unit 440 of the student terminal 400 receives the user'sselection of usage as a guest (step S1709) and then displays an inputscreen page for student information in step S1710. The studentinformation of the present embodiment includes a name, a student number,an e-mail address, etc.

In step S1711, the browser unit 440 of the student terminal 400 receivesthe user's input of student information and then transmits a guest loginrequest to the authenticating unit 230 of the server apparatus 200.

In step S1712, the authenticating unit 230 of the server apparatus 200creates user information where a value of the item “name” is “guest 1”,creates an access token for accessing the user information, andtransmits the access token to the browser unit 440. The access tokenincludes the registered ID, which is an argument of the guest's loginrequest. The access token is then stored in the browser unit 440.

Subsequently, in step S1713, the browser unit 440 transmits a connectionrequest to the application determining unit 220 together with the accesstoken.

In step S1714, the application determining unit 220 sends a redirectrequest to the group application 240-2 for implementing a serviceassociated with the registered ID included in the access token.Specifically, the application determining unit 220 reads the associatedapplication information storage unit 265, identifies the groupapplication 240-2 associated with the registered ID “Tag_QR01”, andsends the redirect request.

In step S1715, the browser unit 440 receives the redirect request fromthe application determining unit 220 and transmits a redirect requesttogether with the access token to the group application 240-2.

In step S1716, the group application 240-2 reads the associatedapplication information storage unit 265 and the group informationstorage unit 267, obtains the group name associated with thesub-application ID of the group application 240-2, and transmits thegroup name to the browser unit 440.

In step S1717, the browser unit 440 displays an invitation screen pageincluding the group name and an input field for a countersign.

Subsequently, in step S1718, the browser unit 440 receives the user'sinput of a countersign and transmits a request for participation in thegroup to the group application 240-2 together with the input countersignand the access token.

The group application 240-2 reads the group information storage unit 267and determines whether the input countersign is the same as thecountersign corresponding to the group ID. When the input countersign isthe same as the countersign corresponding to the group ID, then, in stepS1719, the group application 240-2 stores the user ID included in theaccess token in the group information storage unit 267, associates thestored user ID with the group ID, and transmits an access token,permitting participation in the group, and the group ID to the browserunit 440.

In the present embodiment, the fact that the group ID is associated withthe user ID (the user information) obtained from the student terminal400 in the group information storage unit 267 means that the user of thestudent terminal 400 participates in the group. In other words, thestudent terminal 400 comes to be able to access the storage locationcorresponding to the group ID, and thus, sharing of information starts.

In step S1721, the browser unit 440 displays a screen page of thearchaeological digging group in response to the participation beingpermitted, and transmits a request for obtaining the file list withrespect to the archaeological digging group together with the accesstoken and the group ID to the communication unit 210 of the serverapparatus 200.

In step S1722, the communication unit 210 transmits the list of file IDsof document image data, for accessing the storage location correspondingto the group name “archaeological digging” in the group informationstorage unit 267, to the browser unit 440.

In step S1723, the browser unit 440 requests the communication unit 210to send a thumbnail for each file on the basis of the obtainedinformation of the list of file IDs, and, obtains from the communicationunit 210 thumbnail image data and file information associated with thethumbnail image data. In this regard, the user IDs associated with thethumbnail image data may be obtained as the file information.

Subsequently, in step S1724, the browser unit 440 displays a list ofthumbnail images based on the obtained thumbnail image data.

Thus, the student terminal 400 participates in the group. Screen pagetransitions at the student terminal 400 in the procedure illustrated inFIGS. 17A and 17B will now be described with reference to FIGS. 18A and18B. FIG. 18A is a first diagram illustrating a screen page transitionat the student terminal according to the first embodiment. FIG. 18B is asecond diagram illustrating the screen page transition at the studentterminal according to the first embodiment.

A screen page 181, a screen page 182, and a screen page 183 illustratedin FIG. 18A, and a screen page 184 and a screen page 185 illustrated inFIG. 18B are displayed on the display of the student terminal 400.

The screen page 141 is an example of a screen page displayed in stepS1308 of FIG. 13A. When a button 141 b is operated, the screen page 141is changed to the screen page 182. The screen page 182 is an example ofa login screen page displayed in step S1710 of FIG. 17A, and an inputfield for student information is displayed. The screen page 182 ischanged to the screen page 183 when student information is input and alogin request is input by the user.

The screen page 183 is an example of an invitation screen page displayedin step S1717 of FIG. 17A. The screen page 183 displays a countersigninput field 183 a and a button 183 b for requesting participation in thegroup. When a countersign is input by the user to the input field 183 a,the button 183 b is operated, and the input countersign is the same asthe countersign stored in the group information storage unit 267, thescreen page 183 is changed to the screen page 184 illustrated in FIG.18B.

In FIG. 18B, the screen page 184 is an example of a screen pagedisplayed in step S1720 of FIG. 17B. In the screen page 184, the list ofthumbnail images of images (photographs) indicated by the document imagedata stored in the storage location corresponding to the group name“archaeological digging” is displayed. When the button 184 a isoperated, the screen page 184 is changed to the screen page 185. Thescreen page 185 is the same screen page as the screen page 164 of FIG.16B. The screen page is for the user to select, from the document imagedata stored in the student terminal 400, document image data to beuploaded to the storage location corresponding to the group name“archeological digging”.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, a service canbe associated with a two-dimensional code. Further, according to thepresent embodiment, information can be shared by a plurality of terminalapparatuses from simply reading of a two-dimensional code. Accordingly,according to the present embodiment, prior preparations for sharinginformation are not required, and information can be easily shared by aplurality of terminal apparatuses.

In the present embodiment, the group is created by the user (theteacher) of the teacher terminal 300, but an embodiment is not limitedto such a manner. Instead, a group may be created by the student who isthe user of the student terminal 400.

For example, the present embodiment may be applied to a lesson wherestudents form groups and make presentations on a group-by-group basis.In that case, if a two-dimensional code is prepared for each group, thestudents in each group can share information within the group by simplyreading the two-dimensional code 25 with respect to the group from theirstudent terminals 400.

Second Embodiment

A second embodiment will be described below with reference to thedrawings. The second embodiment differs from the first embodiment inthat a service is newly associated with a two-dimensional code that isalready associated with another service. The following description ofthe second embodiment describes the differences between the firstembodiment and the second embodiment. For the elements having thefunctional configurations similar to the functional configurations ofthe first embodiment, the same reference numerals as the referencenumerals used for the first embodiment are used, and the duplicatedescription is omitted.

FIG. 19 is a diagram illustrating an example of a configuration of aninformation processing system according to the second embodiment. In theinformation processing system 100A according to the present embodiment,a server apparatus 200A and a user environment E1 are capable ofcommunicating via a wide-area network n, such as the Internet.

The user environment E1 is an organization, in which one or more outputapparatuses 50 and one or more intermediary apparatuses 20 areinstalled, such as a company or a system environment in an educationalinstitution such as a school. Each output apparatus 50 is an apparatusfor displaying an input image to a display unit and may be, for example,a projector or an electronic blackboard. In the user environment E1,each output apparatus 50 is connected to a corresponding intermediaryapparatus 20. That is, the output apparatuses 50 correspond to theintermediary apparatuses 20 on a one-to-one basis. The outputapparatuses 50 and the intermediary apparatuses 20 are connected viainterfaces conforming to standards capable of transmitting images, suchas, for example, HDMI (High-Definition Multimedia Interface).

For example, the output apparatuses 50 and the intermediary apparatuses20 may be connected by cables corresponding to the interfaces (e.g.,HDMI (registered trademark) cables, etc.). Alternatively, connectorscorresponding to the interfaces provided by the intermediary apparatuses20 and connectors corresponding to the interfaces provided by the outputapparatuses 50 may be directly connected.

For example, the intermediary apparatuses 20 may be inserted into theconnectors of the output apparatuses 50 to connect together.Alternatively, the intermediary apparatuses 20 and the outputapparatuses 50 may be wirelessly connected or connected via a network.

When the output apparatuses 50 and the intermediary apparatuses 20 areconnected as described above, the intermediary apparatuses 20 cantransmit images to be displayed to the output apparatuses 50.

The intermediary apparatuses 20 are connected to the network n through aLAN or the like in the user environment E1. The intermediary apparatuses20 may be wirelessly connected to a LAN or the like in the userenvironment E1. Each of the intermediary apparatuses 20 includes a webbrowser therein and performs a process according to a request forexecuting a process with respect to image data or document datatransmitted from the server apparatus 200A though the web browser tocontrol the corresponding output apparatus 50 (outputting an executionresult of the process to the corresponding output apparatus 50).

Specifically, according to the present embodiment, each intermediaryapparatus 20 performs an output (display) of image data, document dataor the like through the corresponding output apparatus 50. That is, eachintermediary apparatus 20 relays a process of outputting (displaying) animage to the corresponding output apparatus 50 with respect to datatransmitted from the server apparatus 200A. For example, a computer suchas an HDMI dongle or a stick PC may be used as each of the intermediaryapparatuses 20. In the following description, data including image dataor document data displayed on each of the output apparatuses 50 may bereferred to as document image data.

In the present embodiment, for example, when document image datauploaded to the server apparatus 200A via the network n from theterminal apparatus 300 is designated by the terminal apparatus 300, thedesignated document image data may be displayed on an output apparatus50 through an intermediary apparatus 20.

The server apparatus 200A is one or more computers that execute aprocess for implementing an output of document image data, designated bythe terminal apparatus 300 or 400, by an output apparatus 50 through asimple operation using the terminal apparatus 300 or 400. The serverapparatus 200A may be installed in the user environment E1.

FIG. 20 is a diagram illustrating an outline of an operation of theinformation processing system according to the second embodiment. InFIG. 20, the information processing system 100A is introduced to aconference of a company or the like, and the terminal apparatus 300 is aterminal apparatus that is mainly used as a host of the conference inwhich an output apparatus 50 is used for a presentation or the like. Theterminal apparatus 400 is mainly a terminal apparatus used by aparticipant participating in the conference.

In the present embodiment, an output apparatus 50 is a display deviceinstalled in a conference room or the like of a company, and may be, forexample, an electronic blackboard or a projector. In the presentembodiment, the server apparatus 200A previously displays atwo-dimensional code including identifying information on the outputapparatus 50. The two-dimensional code is, for example, a QR code. TheQR code displayed on the output apparatus 50 is read by the terminalapparatus 300 of the host who performs a presentation (step S20).

The identifying information is information used to associate theterminal apparatus 300 having accessed the server apparatus 200A withthe output apparatus 50 and is generated by the server apparatus 200A.

When the terminal apparatus 300 reads the QR code, in step S21, theterminal apparatus 300 accesses the server apparatus 200A based on theURL included in the QR code, and obtains an application for performing apresentation (step S22). In the following description, an applicationfor providing a service for performing a presentation may be referred toas a presentation application.

When the presentation application is started, the terminal apparatus 300notifies the server apparatus 200A of the identifying informationincluded in the QR code (step S23). In step S24, when the identifyinginformation is thus notified, the server apparatus 200A notifies theintermediary apparatus 20 associated with the output apparatus 50 of aconnection with the terminal apparatus 300 based on the identifyinginformation.

In the present embodiment, through such a procedure, information comesto be able to be output from the terminal apparatus 300 to the outputapparatus 50 through the intermediary apparatus 20. Therefore, when adocument file, etc. is uploaded from the terminal apparatus 300 to theserver apparatus 200A, the intermediary apparatus 20 outputs thedocument file, etc. to the output apparatus 50 (step S25). That is, theterminal apparatus 300 is associated with the output apparatus 50 and isin a state in which the output apparatus 50 can be used by the terminalapparatus 300. The terminal apparatus 300 is thus associated with theoutput apparatus 50, and therefore, when a state where a session withthe server apparatus 200A is established continues, the document filecan be output to the output apparatus 50 through the server apparatus200A and the intermediary apparatus 20 without reading the QR codeagain.

In the present embodiment, a QR code displayed on the output apparatus50 can be associated with an application other than a presentationapplication. In other words, according to the present embodiment, aservice other than a service for a user to perform a presentation can beassociated with a QR code displayed on the output apparatus 50.

Specifically, in step S26, when an operation is performed by the user toselect a service to be associated with a QR code displayed on the outputapparatus 50, the terminal apparatus 300 requests the server apparatus200A to associate the QR code with the thus added service. The serverapparatus 200A associates the new service with the QR code in responseto this request.

When the terminal apparatus 400 reads the QR code with which the newservice is associated (step S27), the server apparatus 200A provides thenewly added service to the terminal apparatus 400 (step S28).

Thus, according to the present embodiment, a service can be newlyassociated with a QR code with which another service is alreadyassociated.

FIG. 21A is a diagram illustrating a functional configuration example ofeach apparatus according to the second embodiment. The server apparatus200A according to the present embodiment includes a communication unit210, an application determining unit 220, an authenticating unit 230, anapplication group 240A, a passcode obtaining unit 260, an identifyinginformation assigning unit 275, and an information storage unit 280A.

The application group 240A according to the present embodiment includes,for example, a QR application 240-1, a group application 240-2, apresentation application 240-3, and a display application 240-4.

The presentation application 240-3 is an application (input application)to cause the terminal apparatus 300 or 400 to execute a process ofassisting the user in performing a presentation (transmission ofinformation).

The display application 240-4 is an application (output application) tocause the browser unit 23 of an intermediary apparatus 20 associatedwith the server apparatus 200A to obtain (download) document image dataselected through the presentation application 240-3 and implement arendering process with respect to the document image data. Specifically,for example, in FIG. 23, the display application 240-4 may be anapplication identified by an application ID “AP_PhotoShow”, or the like.

When a request for a process is input by the user to the terminalapparatus 300, the passcode obtaining unit 260 accesses a URL indicatinga screen page for the user to input a passcode. That is, the passcodeobtaining unit 260 corresponds to a URL displaying a passcode inputscreen page.

The passcode obtaining unit 260 identifies a browser, to which a resultof an execution of the process requested in the terminal apparatus 300is output, based on the passcode input to the terminal apparatus 300 andan application for executing the requested process.

In other words, the passcode obtaining unit 260 according to the presentembodiment is an identifying unit that obtains the passcode input to theterminal apparatus 300 and the request to execute the process associatedwith the passcode; and, from the passcode and the request to execute theprocess, identifies an intermediary apparatus 20 to be associated withthe terminal apparatus 300.

The identifying information assigning unit 275 generates a passcode andcauses the output apparatus 50 to display the passcode via theintermediary apparatus 20. The identifying information assigning unit275 according to the present embodiment generates a passcode differenteach time to be displayed on the output apparatus 50. Details of theinformation storage unit 280A will be described later.

Each intermediary apparatus 20 according to the present embodimentincludes a communication control unit 21, a browser managing unit 22,and a browser unit 23. Each of these units is implemented by a processperformed as a result of one or more programs installed in theintermediary apparatus 20 being executed by the CPU.

The communication control unit 21 provides a two-way communication path(establishes a communication session) to the communication unit 210 ofthe server apparatus 200A and functions as a terminal point of thecommunication path (the communication session) at the side of theintermediary apparatus 20. Through communication using the communicationpath (the communication session), the state of the intermediaryapparatus 20 can be notified to the server apparatus 200A; and thenotification indicating that document image data to be displayed by theintermediary apparatus 20 on the output apparatus 50 has been input tothe server apparatus 200A can be received from the server apparatus200A. Document image data being input to the server apparatus 200A meansthat the document image data is uploaded to the server apparatus 200Afrom the terminal apparatus 300 or the terminal apparatus 400.

The browser managing unit 22 starts the browser unit 23 in a kiosk mode.The kiosk mode is a mode in which the use of the intermediary apparatus20 is restricted to a display of a web page. The kiosk mode is only anexample. As long as a mode is a mode in which a web page can bedisplayed, the mode other than the kiosk mode may be used.

For example, the browser unit 23 is a general web browser and performs aprocess according to HTML data, scripts, or the like.

The browser unit 23 accesses the initial access URL in response to beingstarted. At this time, in the server apparatus 200, identificationinformation (hereinafter, referred to as a “browser ID”) of the browserunit 23 is attached to the initial access URL as option information.

The browser unit 23 accesses the application associated with the browserID among the applications that the server apparatus 200 has, in responseto a redirect request corresponding to the access to the initial accessURL. The browser unit 23 obtains, from the application, data (HTML data,scripts, or the like) of a request directed to the intermediaryapparatus 20 to execute a process. Next, the information storage unit280A will be described with reference to FIG. 21B. FIG. 21B is a diagramillustrating an information storage unit according to the secondembodiment.

The information storage unit 280A of the present embodiment includes aregistered information storage unit 261, an application informationstorage unit 262A, a user information storage unit 263A, a fileinformation storage unit 264, an associated application informationstorage unit 265, a sub-application list storage unit 266A, a groupinformation storage unit 267A, an apparatus information storage unit270, and a rewritten registered information storage unit 271. Details ofeach storage unit will be described later.

Next, the information stored in storage units of the terminal apparatus300 and the terminal apparatus 400 will be described with reference toFIG. 21C. FIG. 21C is a diagram illustrating the information stored inthe storage units of the terminal apparatuses.

FIG. 21C illustrates an example of a storage unit 350 and a storage unit450. The information stored in each of the storage unit 350 and thestorage unit 450 includes a URL, an access token, and content as items.

The value of item “URL” indicates the server apparatus 200A. The valueof the item “access token” indicates a registered ID and a user ID.Here, the registered ID indicates the registered ID previously embeddedin a QR code displayed on the output apparatus 50. In other words, theregistered ID included in the access token is an original registered IDas will be described below.

The value of the item “content” includes a user ID (user name), apasscode, and an e-mail address.

Next, each storage unit included in the information storage unit 280A ofthe server apparatus 200A will be described with reference to FIGS.22-28. FIG. 22 is a diagram illustrating an example of the registeredinformation storage unit according to the second embodiment.

The registered information stored in the registered information storageunit 261A according to the present embodiment is information that isprovided before an operation of the information processing system 100Adescribed below is performed. The registered information storage unit261A includes, as items of information, a registered ID, an Inapplication ID, an Out application ID, and a browser ID.

The value of the item “In application ID” is an application ID thatidentifies an input application that is associated with the registeredID. The value of the item “Out application ID” is an application ID thatidentifies an output application that is associated with the registeredID. The value of the item “browser ID” is identification informationthat identifies the browser unit 23 of the intermediary apparatus 20.

In the example of FIG. 22, a service identified by the registered ID“Tag_QR01” is associated with the In application ID “AP_QR” as an inputapplication. A service identified by the registered ID “Tag_Presen” isassociated with the In application ID “AP_Presen” as an inputapplication and an Out application ID “AP_PhotoDoc” as an outputapplication. The service identified by the registered ID “Tag_Presen” isalso associated with the browser ID “BROWSER1”.

FIG. 23 is a diagram illustrating an example of the applicationinformation storage unit according to the second embodiment. Theapplication information storage unit 262A according to the presentembodiment includes an application ID, an application type, a URL, and acorresponding browser as items of information, and the item “applicationID” is associated with the other items.

In the present embodiment, the value of the item “corresponding browser”includes a browser ID of the browser unit 23 of the intermediaryapparatus 20.

FIG. 24 is a diagram illustrating an example of the user informationstorage unit according to the second embodiment. The user informationstorage unit 263A includes a tenant ID, a user ID, a type, a name, ausable application, a usable browser, and a currently used browser asitems of information.

The value of the item “usable browser” indicates a browser (theintermediary apparatus 20) that can be used by the user identified bythe user ID. The value of the item “currently used browser” indicates abrowser (the intermediary apparatus 20) currently used by the useridentified by the user ID.

FIG. 25 is a diagram illustrating an example of the sub-applicationinformation storage unit according to the second embodiment. Thesub-application list storage unit 266A according to the presentembodiment has a sub-application ID, an application name, an“AP_QR”, andan “AP_Presen” as items of information.

In the sub-application list storage unit 266A according to the presentembodiment, sub-applications each being subordinate to an applicationidentified by the application ID “AP_QR” and an application identifiedby the application ID “AP_Presen” are stored.

FIG. 26 is a diagram illustrating an example of the group informationstorage unit according to the second embodiment. The group informationstorage unit 267A according to the present embodiment includes a groupID, a group name, a countersign, a storage location, a correspondingbrowser, a user ID, and a participant as items of information.

The value of the item “corresponding browser” indicates identificationinformation of the browser associated with the group ID.

FIG. 27 is a diagram illustrating an example of the apparatusinformation storage unit according to the second embodiment. Theapparatus information storage unit 270 according to the presentembodiment includes, as items of information, a tenant ID, acommunication ID, address information, connection condition, a browserID, a browser state, and a passcode.

The value of the item “communication ID” is identification informationof the communication control unit 21 of each intermediary apparatus 20disposed in the tenant identified by the tenant ID. When only onecommunication control unit 21 is provided by the intermediary apparatus20, the communication ID may be identification information identifyingthe intermediary apparatus 20.

The value of the item “address information” is the local IP address ofthe intermediary apparatus 20. The value of the item “connectioncondition” indicates whether the communication control unit 21identified by the communication ID is currently being connected to theserver apparatus 200 (in a state in which a communication path has beenestablished) or not being connected to the server apparatus 200 (“notconnected”).

The value of the item “browser ID” is identification information of thebrowser unit 23 corresponding to the communication control unit 21identified by the communication ID. According to the present embodiment,the browser ID is identification information of the browser unit 23included in the same intermediary apparatus 20 as the intermediaryapparatus 20 including the communication control unit 21 identified bythe communication ID.

The value of the item “browser state” is information indicating thestartup state of the browser unit 23 identified by the browser ID. Forexample, when a target communication ID notified to the communicationunit 210 is “Eg001-01”, the connection condition corresponding to thecommunication ID in the apparatus information storage unit 270 ischanged to “connected” as illustrated in FIG. 27.

The value of the item “passcode” is generated by the identifyinginformation assigning unit 275 when a communication path with theintermediary apparatus 20 is established, and is associated with thebrowser ID (the intermediary apparatus 20). When there are a pluralityof browser IDs associated with the communication ID, a passcode may begenerated for each browser ID.

FIG. 28 is a diagram illustrating an example of a rewritten registeredinformation storage unit according to the second embodiment. Therewritten registered information stored in the rewritten registeredinformation storage unit 271 according to the present embodiment isinformation in which a registered ID that is previously embedded in a QRcode is associated with a registered ID that newly identifies a servicethat is associated with the QR code.

The rewritten registered information storage unit 271 according to thepresent embodiment has an original registered ID and a rewrittenregistered ID as items of information, and both are associated with eachother.

The value of the item “original registered ID” indicates a registered IDpreviously embedded in a QR code. The value of item “rewrite registeredID” indicates a registered ID that identifies a service newly associatedwith the QR code.

Now, operation of the information processing system 100A according tothe present embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 29A,29B, 30A, 30B, and 30C.

FIG. 29A is a first sequence diagram (a first section) illustrating anoperation of the information processing system according to the secondembodiment. FIG. 29B is the first sequence diagram (a second section)illustrating an operation of the information processing system accordingto the second embodiment. In FIGS. 29A and 29B, a procedure until theterminal apparatus 300 is connected with an intermediary apparatus 20 isillustrated.

In FIG. 29A, in the information processing system 100A according to thepresent embodiment, a QR code including a passcode assigned by theidentifying information assigning unit 275 of the server apparatus 200Ais displayed on an output apparatus 50 (step S2901). In the QR code, apasscode, an initial access URL, and a registered ID “Tag_Presen”associated with an application ID “AP_Presen” of the presentationapplication 240-3 are embedded. The application ID of the presentationapplication 240-3 is an example of third identification informationspecifying the presentation application 240-3.

The presentation application 240-3 is an input application included inthe application group 240.

Accordingly, a QR code according to the present embodiment is an exampleof identifying information, which is generated differently for eachintermediary apparatus 20, and is periodically changed.

In step S2902, when an operation for reading the QR code displayed onthe output apparatus 50 is performed on the terminal apparatus 300 bythe user in the information processing system 100A, the terminalapparatus 300 captures an image of the QR code (step S2903). In stepS2904, the control unit 330 of the terminal apparatus 300 obtains thepasscode, the initial access URL, the application ID of the presentationapplication 240-3, and the registered ID associated with the QR code,from the QR code.

Subsequently, in step S2905, the control unit 330 of the terminalapparatus 300 starts the browser unit 340.

Step S2906 of FIG. 29A through step S2915 of FIG. 29B are the same asstep S1305 of FIG. 13A through step S1314 of FIG. 13B, except that theregistered ID transmitted from the browser unit 340 in step S2913 is theregistered ID of the presentation application 240-3.

In FIG. 29B, in step S2915, the browser unit 340 receives the redirectrequest directed to the presentation application 240-3, transmits aconnection request directed to the presentation application 240-3 to theserver apparatus 200, and receives the URL of the presentationapplication 240-3 from the server apparatus 200 (step S2916).

Subsequently, in step S2917, the browser unit 340 displays a screen pageaccording to the URL of the presentation application 240-3.

Subsequently, the browser unit 340 determines the validity using thepasscode read from the QR code. Specifically, in step S2918, the browserunit 340 transmits the access token stored in the storage unit 350 andthe passcode obtained in step S2904 to the passcode obtaining unit 260of the server apparatus 200A.

The passcode obtaining unit 260 identifies the browser ID correspondingto the registered ID “Tag_Presen” included in the access token byreading the registered information storage unit 261A, and identifies thebrowser ID corresponding to the passcode by reading the apparatusinformation storage unit 270 (see FIGS. 22 and 27). When the identifiedpasscode is the same as the passcode received from the browser unit 340,the passcode obtaining unit 260 determines that the passcode is validand transmits a connection notification to the communication controlunit 21 of the intermediary apparatus 20, in step S2919.

The connection notification includes the browser ID associated with thepasscode in the apparatus information storage unit 270 and the accountinformation. Further, in the present embodiment, because the passcode isperiodically changed, the passcode is determined as valid only for theterminal apparatus 300 which read the QR code from the output apparatus50 within a certain period of time.

In step S2921, the communication control unit 21 receives the connectionnotification and then notifies the browser unit 23 of the accountinformation. In step S2921, the browser unit 23 displays the accountinformation of the person who requested the connection to theintermediary apparatus 20 on the output apparatus 50.

Thus, the terminal apparatus 300 and the intermediary apparatus 20 areconnected together. Next, a procedure of associating a new service witha QR code will be described with reference to FIGS. 30A, 30B, and 30C.

FIG. 30A is a second sequence diagram (a first section) illustrating anoperation of the information processing system according to the secondembodiment. FIG. 30B is the second sequence diagram (a second section)illustrating an operation of the information processing system accordingto the second embodiment. FIG. 30C is the second sequence diagram (athird section) illustrating an operation of the information processingsystem according to the second embodiment.

In FIG. 30A, the browser unit 340 of the terminal apparatus 300transmits a request for obtaining a list of sub-applications to thepresentation application 240-3 when the user's operation requesting adisplay of a menu screen page is received from the screen page displayedin step S2917 (step S3001).

In step S3002, the presentation application 240-3 transmits a list ofsub-applications subordinate to the presentation application 240-3 tothe browser unit 340 by reading the user information storage unit 263Aand the sub-application list storage unit 266A.

Specifically, the presentation application 240-3 transmits a list ofnames of sub-applications, which are included in the usable applicationsof the user ID “tanaka@ . . . ” in the sub-application list storage unit266A and are subordinate to the application ID “AP_Presen” in the userinformation storage unit 263A, to the browser unit 340.

That is, in this case, the application name “group” of the applicationID “AP_Group”, the application name “sending” of the application ID“AP_Send”, the application name “questionnaire survey” of theapplication ID “AP_Survey”, the application name “roster generation” ofthe application ID “AP_Roster”, and the application name “questionreceiving” of the application ID “AP_Question” of the application ID“AP_Question” are transmitted to the browser unit 340 (see FIGS. 8 and11).

In step S3003, the browser unit 340 displays a service selecting screenpage in response to receiving the list.

Subsequently, with reference to FIG. 30B, the browser unit 340 receivesthe user's selection of a service to be associated with the QR code andthen transmits the application ID corresponding to the selected serviceand the access token to the presentation application 240-3 (step S3004).Specifically, the application ID “AP_Group” is transmitted to thepresentation application 240-3 as the application ID corresponding tothe selected service.

In step S3005, the presentation application 240-3 transmits a redirectrequest including the URL of the application ID “AP_Group” to thebrowser unit 340 by reading the application information storage unit262A (see FIG. 23).

The presentation application 240-3 associates the registered ID“Tag_Group” with the registered ID “Tag_Presen” corresponding to theapplication ID “AP_Group”, and stores, in the rewritten registeredinformation storage unit 271, “Tag_Presen” as the original registered IDand “Tag_Group” as the rewritten registered ID.

In other words, the presentation application 240-3 associates theapplication ID of the presentation application 240-3 corresponding toregistered ID “Tag_Presen” with the application ID of the groupapplication 240-2 corresponding to the registered ID “Tag_Group”.

In the present embodiment, through such a process of the presentationapplication 240-3, the QR code displayed on the output apparatus 50 isnewly associated with the service implemented by the group application240-2 corresponding to application ID “AP_Group”.

Because steps S3006-S3008 in FIG. 30B are the same as steps S1327-S1329in FIG. 13C, the duplicate description will be omitted.

Further, because steps S3009 and S3010 of FIG. 30B are the same as stepsS1507 and S1508 of FIG. 15A, the duplicate description will be omitted.

Subsequent to step S3010, in step S3011, the browser unit 340 displays ascreen page of list of thumbnails of stored document image data when thedocument image data are stored in the storage location.

Next, with reference to FIG. 30C, when the browser unit 340 receives theuser's operation to invite participants (step S3012), the browser unit340 displays a screen page to invite a participant to the group (stepS3013).

Subsequently, in step S3014, the browser unit 340 transmits the accesstoken and an invite request to the group application 240-2. The inviterequest includes the group ID of the selected group.

In step S3015, the group application 240-2 receives the invite request,then reads the group information storage unit 267A, and transmits thebrowser ID and an instruction, to change the screen page to a screenpage of notifying an invite to the group, to the communication controlunit 21 of the intermediary apparatus 20.

At this time, the group application 240-2 transmits a group name and auser ID to the intermediary apparatus 20 as information to be displayedon the screen page of notifying an invite to the group. The user ID is auser ID of the person who is the host of a conference and has createdthe group. In this example, the group name “archaeological digging” andthe user ID “TANAKA” of the host are transmitted.

In step S3016, the communication control unit 21 of the intermediaryapparatus 20 then transmits a screen page change notification to thebrowser unit 23. In step S3017, the browser unit 23 displays aninvite-to-group screen page on the output apparatus 50.

Thus, the new service is associated with the QR code. Hereinafter,screen page transitions at the terminal apparatus 300 and the outputapparatus 50 in the procedure illustrated in FIGS. 29A, 29B, 30A, 30B,and 30C will be described with reference to FIGS. 31A, 31B, 31C, 32A,and 32B.

FIG. 31A is a first diagram illustrating a screen page transition at aterminal apparatus (host) according to the second embodiment. FIG. 31Bis a second diagram illustrating a screen page transition at theterminal apparatus (host) according to the second embodiment. FIG. 31Cis a third diagram illustrating a screen page transition at the terminalapparatus (host) according to the second embodiment.

The display 318 of the terminal apparatus 300 displays a screen page331, a screen page 332, and a screen page 333 illustrated in FIG. 31A, ascreen page 334, a screen page 162, and a screen page 335 illustrated inFIG. 31B, and a screen page 336 and a screen page 337 illustrated inFIG. 31C.

The screen page 331 is an example of a screen page displayed in stepS2909 of FIG. 29A, and is similar to the screen page 141 of FIG. 14A,except that the QR code is not displayed. When the method of logging inand using the information processing system 100 is selected, the screenpage 331 is then changed to the screen page 332.

The screen page 332 is a screen page displayed in step S2911 of FIG. 29Bsimilar to the screen page 142 of FIG. 14A. When account information isinput and a login is requested from the screen page 332, the screen page332 is changed to the screen page 333.

The screen page 333 is an example of a screen page displayed in stepS2917 of FIG. 29B. A button 333 a for requesting a display of a menuscreen page of the presentation application 240-3 and a button 333 b forrequesting a display of a screen page for selecting a material to beused in a presentation are displayed in the screen page 333. When thebutton 333 a is operated by the user, the screen page 333 is changed tothe screen page 334 illustrated in FIG. 31B.

The screen page 334 is an example of a screen page displayed in stepS3003 of FIG. 30A. Information 334 a indicating that the following is amenu of the presentation application 240-3 and a list of services 334 bare displayed in the screen page 334. When “group” is selected, thescreen page 334 is changed to the screen page 162. The screen page 162is an example of a screen page displayed in step S3008 of FIG. 30B andis similar to the screen page 162 illustrated in FIG. 16A. In the screenpage 162, when the group name “archaeological digging” is selected bythe user, the screen page is changed to the screen page 335.

The screen page 335 is an example of a screen page displayed in stepS3011 of FIG. 30B. The screen page 335 includes a button 335 a to invitea participant to the group. The name of the host is displayed near thethumbnail image in the screen page 335. When the button 335 a isoperated by the user, the screen page 335 is changed to the screen page336 illustrated by FIG. 31C.

The screen page 336 is an example of a screen page displayed in stepS3013 of FIG. 30C. The screen page 336 includes information 336 aindicating that a participant is being invited, a list of participants336 b, a button 336 c for permitting participation in the group for eachparticipant, and a button 336 d for ending the invite.

When the button 336 c associated with a participant's name is operatedby the user at the screen page 336, the corresponding participant'sparticipation in the group is permitted.

Specifically, the group application 240-2 registers the user IDs ofpermitted participants as participants corresponding to the group name“archaeological digging” in the group information storage unit 267A.

When the button 336 d is operated by the user, the screen page 336 ischanged to the screen page 337.

The screen page 337 is the first screen page with respect to the groupname “archaeological digging”. In the present embodiment, the documentimage data stored in the storage location corresponding to the groupname “archaeological digging” can be displayed on the output apparatus50 through the presentation application 240-3.

FIG. 32A is a first diagram illustrating a screen page transition at theoutput apparatus according to the second embodiment. FIG. 32B is asecond diagram illustrating a screen page transition at the outputapparatus according to the second embodiment. A screen page 351 and ascreen page 352 illustrated in FIG. 32A as well as a screen page 353 anda screen page 354 illustrated in FIG. 32B are displayed on the outputapparatus 50.

The screen page 351 is an example of a screen page displayed on theoutput apparatus 50 in step S2901 of FIG. 29A. A two-dimensional code (aQR code) 25 and a passcode 26 are displayed in the screen page 351. Whenthe terminal apparatus 300 is connected to the intermediary apparatus 20associated with the output apparatus 50, the screen page 351 is changedto the screen page 352.

The screen page 352 is an example of a screen page displayed on theoutput apparatus 50 in step S2921 of FIG. 29C. The screen page 352displays information 332 a including the user name of the terminalapparatus 300 connected with the intermediary apparatus 20. The screenpage 352 is changed to the screen page 353 illustrated in FIG. 32B whenthe group application 240-2 is associated with the two-dimensional code25 and an invite of participants is started.

The screen page 353 is an example of a screen page displayed on theoutput apparatus 50 in step S3017 of FIG. 30C. The screen page 353includes, in addition to the two-dimensional code 25 and the passcode26, a list 353 a of participants of the group, information 353 bindicating that the two-dimensional code 25 and the group application240-2 are associated together, and information 353 c indicating the nameof the host who has created the group. The screen page 353 is changed tothe screen page 354 when the invite of participants is ended by thehost.

In the screen page 354, the two-dimensional code 25 is displayed and issimilar to the screen page 351. However, information 354 a is displayedindicating that document image data to be used for a presentation isdocument image data stored at the storage location corresponding to thegroup name “archaeological digging”.

Next, a procedure of participation in the group by the terminalapparatus 400 according to the present embodiment will be described withreference to FIGS. 33A, 33B, 33C, and 33D. The user of the terminalapparatus 400 is a participant who will participate in the group.

FIG. 33 is a third sequence diagram illustrating an operation of theinformation processing system according to the second embodiment. Instep S3301, in the information processing system 100A, the browser unit23 of the intermediary apparatus 20 displays an invite-to-group screenpage on the output apparatus 50. Specifically, the screen page displayedon the output apparatus 50 is the screen page 353 of FIG. 32. Thetwo-dimensional code (QR code) 25 is displayed in the screen page 353.

Because steps S3302-S3309 of FIG. 33 are the same as step S3002 of FIG.30A through step S3009 of FIG. 30B, the duplicate description will beomitted.

Because steps S3310-S3317 of FIG. 33B are the same as steps S1709-S1716of FIG. 17A, the duplicate description will be omitted.

In step S3318, the browser unit 440 of the terminal apparatus 400receives the group name and displays a participate-in-group screen page.

Subsequently, with reference to FIG. 33C, when the browser unit 440receives the user's operation to indicate participation in the group,the browser unit 440 transmits a participation request to the groupapplication 240-2 in step S3319. The participation request includes theaccess token, the passcode, the group ID, and participant information.The participation request may include a request for obtaining a list ofdocument image data stored in the storage location corresponding to thegroup name.

The user information storage unit 263A according to the presentembodiment does not include information indicating the name of a guest.For this reason, the browser unit 440 may obtain the name or the likeincluded in the information stored in the storage unit 450 and transmitthe name or the like to the group application 240-2.

In step S3320, the group application 240-2 receives the participationrequest, then reads the group information storage unit 267A, andtransmits the participant information to the user (the host) of theterminal apparatus 300. The participant information may be obtainedthrough polling by the browser unit 340 of the terminal apparatus 300.

Subsequently, in step S3321, the browser unit 340 of the terminalapparatus 300 displays the participant information. At this time, whenthe browser unit 340 receives the participant information, the browserunit 340 displays the participant's name as illustrated in the screenpage 336 of FIG. 31C.

In step S3322, the group application 240-2 reads the group informationstorage unit 267A and transmits the participant information to thecommunication control unit 21 of the intermediary apparatus 20identified by the browser ID associated with the group ID. In stepS3323, the communication control unit 21 notifies the browser unit 23 ofthe IP address corresponding to the browser ID by reading the apparatusinformation storage unit 270. In step S3324, the browser unit 23displays the participant information in a screen page of the outputapparatus 50. In step S3324, the participant information may bedisplayed as illustrated in the screen page 353 of FIG. 32B.

Next, with reference to FIG. 33D, the group application 240-2 transmitsa list of file IDs of document image data, for accessing the storagelocation corresponding to the group name, to the browser unit 440 of theterminal apparatus 400, in response to a request to obtain a file list.

Because steps S3326 and S3327 of FIG. 33D are similar to steps S1723 andS1724 of FIG. 17B, the duplicate description will be omitted.

In step S3328, the browser unit 340 of the terminal apparatus 300transmits an invite end instruction to the group application 240-2together with the access token when an operation to end the invite isperformed by the host.

In step S3329, the group application 240-2 receives the instruction andthen transmits an instruction to change the display contents to thecommunication control unit 21 of the intermediary apparatus 20 byreading the group information storage unit 267A. The application 240-2may include in the instruction to change the display contents, as thedisplay contents after the change, the group name associated with thegroup ID in the group information storage unit 267A and the user ID (thename of the host).

In step S3330, the communication control unit 21 of the intermediaryapparatus 20 notifies the browser unit 23 of the IP addresscorresponding to the browser ID by reading the apparatus informationstorage unit 270, and sends, to the browser unit 23, a displayinstruction including information of the display contents after thechange.

In step S3331, the browser unit 23 receives the instruction and changesthe display contents of the output apparatus 50 based on the displaycontents after the change. Specifically, the browser unit 23 causes thescreen page 354 of FIG. 32B to be displayed on the output apparatus 50.

Thus, participation in the group by the terminal apparatus 400 isimplemented. Hereinafter, screen page transitions at the terminalapparatus 400 in the procedure illustrated in FIGS. 33A, 33B, 33C, and33D will be described with reference to FIGS. 34A and 34B. FIG. 34A is afirst diagram illustrating a screen page transition at the terminalapparatus (participant) according to the second embodiment. FIG. 34B isa second diagram illustrating a screen page transition at the terminalapparatus (participant) according to the second embodiment.

A screen page 341 and a screen page 182 illustrated in FIG. 34A as wellas a screen page 342 and a screen page 343 illustrated in FIG. 34B aredisplayed on the display of the terminal apparatus 400.

The screen page 341 is an example of a screen page displayed in stepS3309 of FIG. 33A, and is similar to the screen page 181 of FIG. 18A,except that a QR code is not displayed. When the method of using theinformation processing system 100 as a guest is selected, the screenpage is changed to the screen page 182.

The screen page 182 is a screen page displayed in step S3311 of FIG.33B. When account information is input and a login is requested from thescreen page, the screen page is changed to the screen page 342illustrated in FIG. 34B.

The screen page 342 is an example of a screen page displayed in stepS3318 of FIG. 33B. A button 342 a indicating to participate in the groupis displayed in the screen page 342. The screen page 342 is changed tothe screen page 343 when the button 342 a is operated by the user.

The screen page 343 is an example of a screen page displayed in stepS3327 of FIG. 33D. The screen page 343 displays a list of thumbnailimages of images (photographs) indicated by document image data storedin the storage location corresponding to the group name “archaeologicaldigging”. In addition, information 343 a indicating that the documentimage data stored in the storage location corresponding to the groupname “archaeological digging” are used in a presentation is displayed inthe screen page 343.

Further, a button 343 b for uploading document image data stored in theterminal apparatus 400 to the storage location corresponding to thegroup name “archaeological digging” is displayed in the screen page 343.When the button 343 b is operated by the user, the screen page 343 ischanged to a screen page of a list of the document image data to beuploaded (for example, the screen page 185 of FIG. 18B).

Thus, according to the present embodiment, members participating in aconference at which a presentation is performed can be regarded asbelonging to one group, and information can be shared within the group.In the present embodiment, when associating of a QR code, displayed onan output apparatus 50 provided in a conference room, with the groupapplication 240-2 is ended, sharing of information is also stopped.

Thus, according to the present embodiment, for example, during aconference, all participants are regarded as belonging to one group andcan share information; and each participant can freely perform apresentation using document image data stored in the participants'terminal apparatus. Further, according to the present embodiment, as aresult of associating of a QR code with the group application 240-2being canceled when a conference is ended, information is prevented frombeing shared by the participants' terminal apparatuses after the end ofthe conference.

Further, according to the present embodiment, for example, during apresentation, information stored in a terminal apparatus of aparticipant can be easily shared with other participants. In addition,according to the present embodiment, sharing of information can becanceled at any time.

In the present embodiment, a passcode (identifying information)displayed together with a QR code on an output apparatus 50 isperiodically changed. Thus, according to the present embodiment, when acertain time elapses without an operation being performed by a user onan output apparatus 50, associating of the terminal apparatuses 300 and400 with the output apparatus 50 is automatically canceled.

Therefore, for example, after an end of a conference, the informationstored in the terminal apparatuses 300 and 400 is prevented from beingerroneously displayed on the output apparatus 50, and confidentiality ofthe information of each terminal apparatus can be guaranteed.

Third Embodiment

A third embodiment will now be described with reference to the drawings.The third embodiment differs from the first embodiment in that a casewhere a QR code is read by the terminal apparatus (student terminal) 400before a service is associated with the QR code by the terminalapparatus (teacher terminal) is taken into account. In the followingdescription of the third embodiment, differences from the firstembodiment are described, and the elements having the same functionalstructures as the first embodiment are given the same reference numeralsas the reference numerals used in the description of the firstembodiment, and the duplicate description is omitted.

A QR application 240-1A according to the present embodiment displays awaiting screen page on the terminal apparatus 400 when a QR code is readby the terminal apparatus 400 which has logged in as a guest before aservice is associated with the QR code.

A state before a service is associated with a QR code means a state inwhich a sub-application ID is not associated with a registered ID“Tag_QR01” included in the QR code in the associated applicationinformation storage unit 265.

FIG. 35 is a sequence diagram (a first section) illustrating anoperation of the information processing system according to the thirdembodiment. FIG. 35 illustrates a procedure for the student terminal 400to participate in a group.

Step S3513 of FIG. 35 is executed after execution of step S1712 of FIG.17A. That is, in a procedure in which the student terminal 400participates in a group according to the present embodiment, stepsS1301-S1308 of FIG. 13A are executed, and steps S1709-S1712 of FIG. 17Aare then executed, and then, the process proceeds to step S3513.

In step S3513, the browser unit 440 transmits a connection request tothe application determining unit 220 together with the access token.

In step S3514, when a service is not associated with the QR code, theapplication determining unit 220 transmits a redirect request directedto the QR application 240-1A to the browser unit 440 of the terminalapparatus 400.

In step S3515, the browser unit 440 transmits a request together withthe access token to the QR application 240-1A in response to theredirect request from the application determining unit 220.

In step S3516, the QR application 240-1A determines from the accesstoken that the user is a participant (a student) and a sub-applicationID of the QR application 240-1A is not yet set, and transmits a URL of awaiting screen page to the browser unit 440.

In step S3517, the browser unit 440 displays the waiting screen page onthe student terminal 400. In step S3518, the QR application 240-1Aperforms a redirect request directed to the URL of the sub-applicationidentified by a sub-application ID to the browser unit 440 at a timewhen the registered ID “Tag_QR01” included in the QR code is associatedwith the sub-application ID.

In this regard, associating of the registered ID “Tag_QR01” with thesub-application ID is updated when the providing period of the QR codeset by the teacher terminal 300 has elapsed.

The above-described procedure is an operation executed when the QR codeis read by the student terminal 400 before the service (sub-application)is associated with the QR code.

The student terminal 400 may execute step S1713 of FIG. 17A through stepS1724 of FIG. 17B after executing step S3518 of FIG. 35.

Next, screen page transitions at the student terminal 400 according tothe present embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 36A and36B. FIG. 36A is a first diagram illustrating a screen page transitionat the student terminal according to the third embodiment. FIG. 36B is asecond diagram illustrating a screen page transition at the studentterminal according to the third embodiment.

FIGS. 36A and 36B illustrate screen page transitions at the studentterminal 400 when the student terminal 400 reads a QR code before aservice is associated with the QR code.

A screen page 181 and a screen page 182 illustrated in FIG. 36A as wellas a screen page 183 and a screen page 186 illustrated in FIG. 36B aredisplayed on the display of the student terminal 400.

The screen page 181 and the screen page 182 illustrated in FIG. 36A arethe same as the screen page 181 and the screen page 182 illustrated inFIG. 18A, respectively. In the present embodiment, when the operationbutton 182 a for requesting a transmission of student information in thescreen pager 182 is operated by the user and a service is not associatedwith the QR code, the screen page 182 is changed to the screen page 186illustrated in FIG. 36B.

The screen page 186 is an example of a waiting screen page displayed instep S3517 of FIG. 35. A message 186 a indicating that a service is notassociated with the QR code and a message 186 b requesting the user towait are displayed in the screen page 186.

The message 186 a specifically indicates that the application ID“AP_Group” identifying the group application 240-2 is not associatedwith the QR code that has been read and displayed in the screen page181.

The screen page 186 is changed to the screen page 183 when the teacherterminal 300 associates the QR code displayed in the screen page 181with the application ID “AP_Group”. The screen page 183 is the same asthe screen page 183 illustrated in FIG. 18A.

Thus, according to the present embodiment, when a QR code is read,regardless of whether a service is associated with the QR code, aplurality of terminal apparatuses that read the QR code can shareinformation.

Each function of each of the above-described embodiments can beimplemented by one or more processing circuits. As used herein, a“processing circuit” may be a processor programmed to perform eachfunction by software, such as a processor implemented in electroniccircuit, an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a digitalsignal processor (DSP), a field programmable gate array (FPGA), or aconventional circuit module designed to perform each function describedabove.

Apparatuses described in each embodiment are merely indicative of one ofa plurality of computing environments for carrying out the embodimentdisclosed herein.

In an embodiment of the present invention, a server apparatus 200includes a plurality of computing devices, such as a server cluster. Theplurality of computing devices are configured to communicate with eachother via any type of communication link, including a network, sharedmemory, or the like, and perform processes disclosed herein. Similarly,a terminal apparatus may include a plurality of computing devicesconfigured to communicate with each other. In addition, a serverapparatus and a terminal apparatus can be configured to share disclosedprocess steps in any one of various combinations.

Although the information processing systems, information processingapparatuses, and information processing methods have been described withreference to the embodiments, the present invention is not limited tothe embodiments and various variations and modifications can be madewithin the scope of the present invention.

What is claimed is:
 1. An information processing system including aninformation processing apparatus, wherein the information processingapparatus includes circuitry configured to provide a sharing service ofenabling information to be shared by more than one terminal apparatuses,the more than one terminal apparatuses being included in the informationprocessing system, the information processing apparatus being capable ofcommunicating with the more than one terminal apparatuses, and the morethan one terminal apparatuses being associated with a group, receivefirst identification information from each of the more than one terminalapparatuses, and associate the first identification information with thesharing service, wherein each of the more than one terminal apparatusesincludes circuitry configured to obtain the first identificationinformation from outside and transmit the first identificationinformation to the information processing apparatus, wherein thecircuitry of the information processing apparatus is further configuredto, when having associated the first identification information with thesharing service, associate, with the group, the more than one terminalapparatuses having received the first identification information fromoutside and having transmitted the first identification information, andprovide the sharing service of enabling information to be shared by themore than one terminal apparatuses that are associated with the group,the first identification information received from each of the more thanone terminal apparatuses is a same first identification information, aproviding period is set to the first identification information, and thecircuitry of the information processing apparatus is further configuredto provide the sharing service to a terminal apparatus that obtains thefirst identification information during the providing period.
 2. Theinformation processing system according to claim 1, wherein thecircuitry of each of the more than one terminal apparatuses is furtherconfigured to obtain the first identification information by reading acode, and the circuitry of the information processing apparatus isfurther configured to associate the first identification informationwith second identification information that is used to identify afunction of providing the sharing service of enabling information to beshared by the more than one terminal apparatuses, the code including thesecond identification information.
 3. The information processing systemaccording to claim 2, wherein the circuitry of the informationprocessing apparatus is further configured to authenticate accountinformation of a terminal apparatus based on a result of comparing theaccount information obtained from the terminal apparatus with userinformation stored in a memory, and when the account information isauthenticated, associate the first identification information includedin the code read by the terminal apparatus with the secondidentification information.
 4. The information processing systemaccording to claim 3, wherein the circuitry of the informationprocessing apparatus is further configured to in response to receivingan instruction to create a group from a terminal apparatus from whichthe first identification information is obtained, generate a group IDthat is used to identify the group, and associate the group ID with theaccount information, and when a terminal apparatus other than theterminal apparatus from which the first identification information isobtained obtains the code, associate user information, obtained from theterminal apparatus other than the terminal apparatus from which thefirst identification information is obtained, with the group ID, andstore the user information associated with the group ID in a memory asgroup information.
 5. The information processing system according toclaim 4, wherein the circuitry of the information processing apparatusis further configured to permit the terminal apparatus, other than theterminal apparatus which reads the code and from which the firstinformation is obtained, to access a storage location associated withthe group ID.
 6. The information processing system according to claim 5,wherein the providing period is set to the code, and the circuitry ofthe information processing apparatus is further configured to permit aterminal apparatus that reads the code during the providing period toaccess the storage location.
 7. The information processing systemaccording to claim 2, wherein the circuitry of the informationprocessing apparatus is further configured to provide a service forperforming a presentation, the code including third identificationinformation that is used to identify the providing a service forperforming a presentation, and in response to receiving an instructionto associate the third identification information with the secondidentification information, associate the third identificationinformation with the second identification information.
 8. Theinformation processing system according to claim 2, wherein a functionof the associating the first identification information with the sharingservice is associated with a plurality of functions that provide aplurality of services different from each other, a function of providingthe sharing service of enabling information to be shared by more thanone terminal apparatuses being one of the plurality of functions, andthe circuitry of the information processing apparatus is furtherconfigured to, in response to the function of providing the sharingservice of enabling information to be shared by more than one terminalapparatuses being selected from among the plurality of functions,associate the first identification information with the secondidentification information.
 9. An information processing apparatuscomprising circuitry configured to provide a sharing service of enablinginformation to be shared by more than one terminal apparatuses, theinformation processing apparatus being capable of communicating with themore than one terminal apparatuses, and the more than one terminalapparatuses being associated with a group; receive first identificationinformation from each of the more than one terminal apparatuses; andassociate the first identification information with the sharing service,wherein the circuitry is further configured to, when having associatedthe first identification information with the sharing service,associate, with the group, the more than one terminal apparatuses havingreceived the first identification information from outside and havingtransmitted the first identification information, and provide thesharing service of enabling information to be shared by the more thanone terminal apparatuses that are associated with the group, the firstidentification information received from each of the more than oneterminal apparatuses is a same first identification information, aproviding period is set to the first identification information, and thecircuitry of the information processing apparatus is further configuredto provide the sharing service to a terminal apparatus that obtains thefirst identification information during the providing period.
 10. Aninformation processing method comprising: providing, by circuitry of aninformation processing apparatus, a sharing service of enablinginformation to be shared by more than one terminal apparatuses, theinformation processing apparatus being capable of communicating with themore than one terminal apparatuses, and the more than one terminalapparatuses being associated with a group, receiving, by the circuitry,first identification info ration from each of the more than one terminalapparatuses, and associating the first identification information withthe sharing service, wherein the information processing method furthercomprises: when having associated the first identification informationwith the sharing service, associating, by the circuitry, with the group,the more than one terminal apparatuses having received the firstidentification information from outside and having transmitted the firstidentification information, and providing, by the circuitry, the sharingservice of enabling information to be shared by the more than oneterminal apparatuses that are associated with the group, the firstidentification information received from each of the more than oneterminal apparatuses is a same first identification information, aproviding period is set to the first identification information, and thesharing service is provided to a terminal apparatus that obtains thefirst identification information during the providing period.
 11. Theinformation processing method according to claim 10, wherein each of themore than one terminal apparatuses obtains the first identificationinformation by reading a code, and the first identification informationis associated with second identification information that is used toidentify a function of providing the sharing service of enablinginformation to be shared by the more than one terminal apparatuses, thecode including the second identification information.
 12. Theinformation processing method according to claim 11, wherein accountinformation of a terminal apparatus is authenticated based on a resultof comparing the account information obtained from the terminalapparatus with user information stored in a memory, and when the accountinformation is authenticated, the first identification informationincluded in the code read by the terminal apparatus is associated withthe second identification information.
 13. The information processingmethod according to claim 12, wherein in response to receiving aninstruction to create a group from a terminal apparatus from which thefirst identification information is obtained, a group ID is generatedthat is used to identify the group, and the group ID is associated withthe account information, and when a terminal apparatus other than theterminal apparatus from which the first identification information isobtained obtains the code, user information, obtained from the terminalapparatus other than the terminal apparatus from which the firstidentification information is obtained, is associated with the group ID,and the user information associated with the group ID is stored in amemory as group information.
 14. The information processing methodaccording to claim 13, wherein the terminal apparatus, other than theterminal apparatus which reads the code and from which the firstinformation is obtained, is permitted to access a storage locationassociated with the group ID.
 15. The information processing methodaccording to claim 14, wherein the providing period is set to the code,and a terminal apparatus that reads the code during the providing periodis permitted to access the storage location.